The Secret of the Rose
by AlwaysUnrivaled
Summary: Nico has a secret. And the new girl at the camp has a secret too. They are so different, that they almost hate each other. Yet, they are forced to work together. A war has started and its because the gods are hiding something. T just in case
1. Every Story has a beginning

_*0*_

_"She's returning," Zeus stood, his voice booming off the walls. The other gods surrounded him, not hiding worry from their faces. "When she returns, we will be in trouble. The whole world will be in trouble."_

_Everyone exchanged dark looks. They had hoped this time would never come, yet here it was, right in front of them. _

_"We must send a warning," Athena spoke up, "we must have our children prepared. There will be a war."_

_"Let them figure it out themselves. A clueless battle is always the best," Ares argued, "A bloody battle and-"_

_"That can be true for some cases," Zeus interrupted, "but this war will include us. We have ignored this for too long."_

_Suddenly the room became cold and fog swirled around their feet. The fog collected and turned into a figure of a woman. Her figure was misty and vague, but they could make out her yellow eyes and pale skin. Her face was daring and serious. "I am here, and let me tell you this: there is no way to get rid of me. This world is mine. I declare war, and you can do nothing about it."_

_All of the gods rose their voices and started to yell at the figure. The titan just smiled in an icy way and waved goodbye. The room warmed and the fog disappeared. The gods stopped speaking, and they all knew that the time had come. The world would never be the same._


	2. all demigods must be saved at some point

_*1*_

_GIRL'S P.O.V_

_Help me, _I tried to speak the words, but nothing escaped my lips. I was sweating from the humid night as I ran through the dark ally, blood oozing from my shoulder. Every step sent shivers through my body, but I couldn't slow down. Someone was after me. _Something _was chasing me. I heard a patter of footsteps behind me and I quickened my pace. Then I found myself at a dead end. I whirled around to face the monster. _Maybe this is just a dream, _I tried to convince myself, but I knew it was a lie. This was real. I didn't understand what was happening. The monster approached me, snarling its teeth in my face. I fell to the ground as I stared into its yellow eyes. It looked like a werewolf with horns. A silly thought crossed my mind, _so much for werewolves being sexy. _The thought instantly went out my mind as the monster bit into my body.

P.O.V

"Nico," Percy shook Nico awake. "We have a problem." Nico sat up and rubbed his eyes. He could barely make out Percy's figure in the pitch black. "Suit up, Nico. We leave in 2 minutes." Nico jumped out of bed and pulled on his armor. He was by the exit in 2 minutes. In the past 2 years at camp, he had learned that being late could cost someone their life. Annabeth and Percy were standing there, ready for a battle. No one spoke a word as the skidded down the hill and jumped into a car. All of their other options of transportation was sleeping. Percy didn't take his eyes off the road as he sped down the country road.

Annabeth finally turned to Nico and spoke up, "A girl is being attacked by a creature we've never seen before. We might be too late. Can you connect to her?" Nico had learned to have a strong sense of life and death. He closed his eyes and waited for drifting soul to speak to him.

_Help me, _a girls voice cried out into his head. She was almost dead. "We have 4 minutes at the most. How long until we get there?"

"4 minutes," Percy answered, speeding up the car. "Can you detect where she is dying?"

"An ally by 7th street," Nico replied, feeling her pain and confusion. He always hated his ability to feel what others felt. It was the curse of Hades.

The next four minutes dragged by as they pulled into the ally and jumped out of the car. They were shocked by what they found. The beast that stood before them was nothing like they had ever seen. The eyes were yellow, and its fur was a matted brown. Its teeth were long and sharp. The girl stood in front of it. She was on her feet and she held a stick, as if it was going to save her life. Nico could feel her dying, yet she stood and tried to fight.

They didn't hesitate before pulling out their weapons and rushing towards the monster. Percy sliced off its ear and Annabeth stabbed its shoulder.

"Get the girl!" Percy called out and he parried to his left and blocked the creature. Nico raced over to the confused girl and looked into her eyes. He was taken aback when he realized her eyes were yellow, just like the monsters. He shook that aside.

"Follow me!" he told her. She didn't argue as she stumbled after him, trying to keep up. She didn't look back as he pushed her into the car. He slid into the backseat with her, and found some ambrosia and handed it to her.

She took it and looked at it curiously. Nico sensed that she had no life in her. Yet, she was living and breathing. She should have been dead. "What is it?" her voice was hoarse and broken.

Nico was surprised that she had the strength to speak. "Just drink it. It will help." She took a sip and Nico could feel her spirit rising.

She looked out the car window, "Shouldn't you be helping them?" Nico followed her gaze. Annabeth had a gash on her arm, and Percy was limping. The monster was easily beating them. Nico instantly grabbed his sword and jumped out of the car and raced over to the monster. He swung his sword and took a swipe at the beasts' leg. It snarled as blood gushed from the wound. Annabeth came up and stabbed the monsters back. Percy cut its neck. The monster could not win against three demigods. It seemed to have realized that. It lay down and turned into dust.

Annabeth, Percy and Nico didn't move for a moment. They took deep breaths and tried to collect their thoughts. It had been a while since they had fought a new monster. Usually it was the same old monsters and repetitive actions. This was new. They all realized that the girl was in the car.

They all limped into the car and sat silently in the car.

"So, who are you guys?" the girl piped up. This time, her voice was perky and a bit happy. It was disturbing, due to the fact of what had just happened.

GIRLS P.O.V

I had watched whole fight with my eyes wide. I had never seen anything like that before. Now, they were in the car, not speaking a word. It was a little awkward and no one knew what to say. After I had spoken, I handed them ambrosia.

They all took a sip and sighed with relief. "What is that stuff? It tastes like cotton candy, which is totally weird.

"Daughter of Aphrodite?" the girl said, almost with a mocking tone.

They all turned to me. I gave them my best, "_what?" _look.

"Aphrodite," they all agreed in unison.

"So, start talking," I demanded, trying to ignore their randomness.

"It's best if we get to camp first, and you sleep," the girl said. I looked at the boy next to me. He had olive skin and eyes, with shaggy black hair that fell into his eyes. It was a dark night, so I couldn't see anything else.

The boy in the drivers seat started the car and slowly began to drive.

"I'm Annabeth," the girl introduced herself. "This is Percy-" she pointed to the boy who was driving, "and that is Nico."

"What just happened?" I asked. I was dying for the question to be answered.

"That's best to be answered tomorrow," Percy answered, glancing at me in his rearview mirror.

"How am I supposed to sleep without knowing what just happened? It's not exactly every day I get attacked by some mystical werewolf!" I replied, getting a little bit excited as the past events raced through my mind.

"Nico, give her some of this," Percy smirked as he handed Nico a water bottle. I took it and examined it. It looked like normal water so I took a sip. It tasted like water. Then, I found myself fighting sleep.

_I don't want to sleep…I don't want to dream…I want to have all the answers…_

"My name is Rose," those were the words I spoke before I fell into a deep slumber.


	3. saying hello to a indigenous life

*2*

ROSE'S P.O.V

"You drugged me!"

Those were the first words I said when I woke up. I sat up and observed my surroundings. I was in a small, windowless room. The lantern was the only source of light. I had always hated the dark, and the dull lantern didn't make me feel any better. Annabeth, Nico and Percy were standing next to my bed, along with an older man. He was in a wheelchair, yet he looked fierce.

"I'm sorry, dear," he spoke. His voice was gentler than I had expected, "they had to drug you for your safety. You were using up all of your energy." I scoffed and tried to stand up. It was a bit more painful than I had expected. "Careful, you are still weak."

I rolled my eyes and pushed myself off the bed. I was able to stand up straight, and I ignored the pain. "Where am I?"

"You are at a camp for special children," the man explained, "I am Chiron, and I am sure you already know them." He gestured towards Annabeth and the others.

I had tuned him out after he had said, 'special children.' "What do you mean a camp for special children?"

"Have you ever noticed that odd things happen to you?" Chiron asked. I shrugged. There was the time in 3rd grade when every chair in school collapsed, except for mine. Or in 5th grade, when I broke Sally Sparrow's spine in dodge ball, even though I hadn't even thrown the ball very hard. In 7th grade I accidentally blew up…Oh never mind. "It's because you are special."

"Rose, you aren't fully human," Nico suddenly spoke. Everyone turned to glare at him. He shrugged, "Might as well get it over with." Everyone rolled their eyes, as if they had a mutual understanding. "Rose, one of your parents is a god."

I received very peculiar looks when I burst out laughing. This was the silliest thing I had ever heard. "You guys are SO crazy." I couldn't resist. They all were silent, waiting for me to calm down. I finally stopped laughing, "Sorry guys, but I don't believe you."

"Where are your parents?" Annabeth asked.

I shrugged, "I've never met them." It was a topic I hated talking about, and I made sure that I made that obvious.

"Come outside with us," Chrion said, waving his hand to follow him. I hid my pain as I stumbled outside and gasped. This camp was beautiful. The cabins were all shockingly gorgeous, with unique designs. Teenagers were everywhere, practicing with archery or climbing up a climbing wall.

"Is that lava coming down the climbing wall?" I asked in awe. "Isn't it already hard enough?"

Percy laughed and Chiron smiled.

Suddenly, Chiron stood up and pushed away his wheelchair. I didn't move. I didn't breathe. His bottom half was a horse. Then, a teenager came running up. More like, galloping up. It was a teenage boy whose bottom half was a donkey.

"Hey guys!" the teenager said, and then turned to me, "Hi, I'm Grover. You must be new!"

"You…you have…donkey…you…" It was all I could say. I pinched myself. I didn't wake up. "This can't be real. You're a satyr. Chiron is a centaur."

"You know you're Greek mythology," Chiron nodded with approval. "Rose, one of your parents is a god. That monster that attacked you last night was sent out to kill you. Life as a demigod is dangerous, which is why we have this camp. We hope you stay and train, so you can stay alive."

I stood there, trying to collect my thoughts. It was like-_oh my god, this is real. _I'm sure you know the feeling. I gulped and did the last thing they expected. I started jumping up and down and squealing, "This is _so _cool! I LOVE my life!"

Percy and Annabeth smiled and were excited for me. Nico didn't smile at all. He seemed to be a darker, more intense person than the others. He wore ripped black jeans and his shirt was black, even though it was summer. He gave off the rebellious, punk look. It made him look like he was over twenty years old; although I could guess he wasn't much older than me. Maybe he had experienced more than the others. I began to wonder what his story was. I didn't let his attitude bring me down.

Then I realized something. I didn't know who my parent was. I turned to Chiron, "Who is my parent?"

Suddenly, Nico frowned and said, "I'll see you guys later," and he walked away. Nobody seemed to find that odd except me. I shrugged it off. He must act like that all the time.

"Don't let him bother you, young girl," Chiron comforted me; "Nico doesn't like it when we discuss everyone's parents. It makes him…uncomfortable." I wanted to ask more, but I knew Chiron wasn't going to continue. It was something I would have to get out of Nico himself. "As for your question, we have yet to figure out. What I don't understand is why you haven't been claimed yet."

"Claimed?" I asked.

"Every god is supposed to claim their child by the time they are thirteen. You are…" Annabeth's voice trailed off as she studied me.

"16," I said.

Percy sighed, "The gods were supposed to follow through on their promise. I don't understand why they haven't claimed you."

I shrugged, "It's no big deal. Gods are busy; at least, I'm assuming so. They have better things to do." To me, it was a fairly big deal. Maybe being a demi-god wasn't as spectacular as I thought it would be. Maybe my godly parent didn't give a crap about me. "Has anyone else not been claimed?"

"A few years ago there was Jason Grace," Annabeth spoke up, trying to make me feel better, "Turns out he was one of the most special kids of Zeus. I'm sure it's just like that." She smiled at me, but I could tell she was trying to reassure herself and Percy as well. I was a special case. She turned to Percy, "You better check on Nico. He needs to know our boundaries are smaller than they used to be."

"Why me? That kid hates me," Percy sighed but he was hesitant to argue with Annabeth. It was obvious that they adored each other.

"Take Rose with you," Chiron added, "show her how this camp works." Percy smiled and gestured for me to follow. We only made it a few steps before a group of kids rushed up to Percy.

"PERCY! THERE'S A FIRE!" one kid yelled, hopping around like he was on an adrenaline rush.

I expected for Percy to freak out and call out for people to help, but he just rolled his eyes and sighed, "Dude, Connor. Just because I'm the son of Poseidon doesn't mean I can just randomly put out a fire." His eyes narrowed, "What are you guys planning?"

"Dang, Percy. Annabeth's smartness is rubbing off on you! We had the best prank planned!" the boy sighed and walked off, all disappointed.

"Uh, Connor, go put the fire out!" Percy called out.

The Connor boy perked up, "Oh yeah! I forgot about the fire!" He ran the other way, calling the group to follow him.

"So, you can share a cabin with Nico," Percy began to talk, "It's a cabin for guests. We don't have a cabin for unclaimed demigods anymore. You can stay in the cabin just for a little while. You'll have fun." He didn't really mean it. It seemed like Percy was thinking, _how could anyone have fun with Nico? It's alright; she'll be fine as long as they don't mix. They are like oil and water. Complete opposites and not meant to mix._

Of course, I couldn't tell if he was actually thinking that. It was just what his face was saying. "Who do you think my god parent is?"

"We were thinking Aphrodite," Percy shrugged as if it was no big deal, "but you could really be anyone's child. There's no way to know. Those eyes…" his voice suddenly dropped. He hadn't meant to say that. Maybe it wasn't normal for demigods to have yellow eyes. "No god has eyes like that. Not even Ares."

"You've met Ares?" I asked, in shock. I tried to imagine what the gods looked like.

"I've met all of the gods," Percy answered as if it was no big deal. I squealed with excitement. I wondered when I would get to meet the gods.

He brought me up to a fairly small log cabin. It looked pathetic compared to all of the other Greek cabins, but I didn't mind. I liked the look of the cabin. 

"Nico, are you in there?" Percy called out.

I quickly leant over to Percy and whispered in his ear, "Why doesn't Nico have his own cabin?"

"Hades doesn't have a cabin here. Besides, Nico only comes here every so often anyway. He never stays for long. He doesn't need his own cabin," Percy didn't sound bitter about it. It didn't seem like Nico and Percy were totally against each other. To me, it was like something had happened, yet they had forgiven each other, but it was never forgotten. I just shrugged it off.

Nico came out of the cabin and groaned when he saw me. "I liked having my own cabin. Well, I'll be gone in a few days anyway. Come on in, you can get settled." He looked at Percy, "Hey, I heard Connor set fire to half of the forest. Why are our boundaries so small now?"

Percy gave him a, _I'll tell you later _look.

I followed Nico inside after waving to Percy. I didn't have any belongings. The room smelled like Nico-fresh, a bit moist like a rainforest, but a little dusty, almost like smoke. It smelled good.

I ignored Nico and lay down on my bunk, realizing how exhausted I was. It was then when I fell asleep and was met by terrifying, real dreams.


	4. accomplished: start having wacko dreams

_I was alone. I was surrounded by darkness and utter silence. It was austere and haunting. I felt as if someone was watching me, yet somehow I knew no one was there. It was chilly, and my feet were incased by ice. I tried to move, but I couldn't. _

_ "What do you want from me?" I called out, hoping an answer was soon to come. Silence. I shifted my feet, but the ice did not break. I was trapped, and there was no one to help me._

_ "You are alone," a voice whispered from behind me. I could feel the warm breath of someone on my ear. "You have been betrayed." I turned my head, and suddenly everything became white and I could see the figure._

_ She was stunning, with yellow eyes and pale skin. I had so much to say, yet I could not open my mouth. I simply looked at her as she talked._

_ "They all act so nice now, yet there is no loyalty inside of them. The second they realize who you are, they will leave you. I can promise you that. Every sing person will leave you," she hissed in my ear._

_ "Who am I?" I finally found the right words to ask. "Why am I here?"_

_ "You are my daughter," she answered, "you are here because I need your help. I need you." _

_ "Why should I help you?" I demanded. _

_ "Because you want exactly what I want," she smirked at an unsaid secret. She touched my check but I jerked my head away. Her touch was cold and cunning. I wanted nothing to do with this woman. I didn't care if she claimed to be my mother. "There will soon come a time when you will call out for help, and only I will be there. Maybe. I am the only one here for you, no matter how it seems. Just you wait." _

_ It was a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled. Yet, I didn't believe her. "I will never need you, whoever you are. Leave me here. I can do fine on my own," I hissed, "besides, I know nothing of what you are talking about."_

_ Her eyes turned red like fire and her anger seeped through. The thing that came next was pain. She pounded and slapped me with unbelievable ferocity. Fire shot through my body as I took every strike. There was no escaping it. I was doomed._

I woke with sweat dripping down my forehead. I gasped for air, and sat up. The sun was rising above the horizon, casting off a faint light. I swung off of my bed and ran to the mirror. My skin was burning, as if the dream had been real. I touched my skin in terror. My face was bruised and battered. _How could this be possible? _

I heard Nico mumble in his sleep, and I instantly panicked. I had no makeup to cover up the marks, or anywhere to flee. My first thought was Percy. Yet, I knew he couldn't help me. Annabeth. I had no idea where exactly I was going but I pushed out of the cabin and raced into the U of cabins. I easily spotted the "Athena" cabin. I wasn't really thinking. I knew I couldn't explain to her what had happened, because even I wasn't sure. I just had to get help.

Then something caught my eye. Aphrodite's cabin. I knew they could help me with makeup, and then no one would be able to see my marks. I ran into the cabin, and everyone turned to look at me. I gasped, just then realizing how stunning the Aphrodite children were.

"Can we help you?" one girl asked with her eyes boring into mine.

"I'm having a makeup emergency," I blurted out. I didn't need to say more. The girls had their makeup bags at hand and instantly wiped on makeup. They didn't listen to my protests as they added eyeliner and blush. I had just wanted something natural.

"Ah, there you are," Annabeth commented as she walked into the cabin, "I see that the Aphrodite cabin has taken you over." She smiled at my, what appeared to be flawless, skin. She just shrugged. I looked into a mirror and realized just how well the girls had done. It seemed as though I was wearing no foundation at all. It was just the eyeliner and random blush that ruined it. "Come with me, Rose." I waved goodbye to the giddy girls and followed Annabeth. "It's almost breakfast time."

Nico came up to Annabeth. He didn't even acknowledge my presence. "Hey, we are having a little issue down by Florida. Are you coming?"

"Of course!" Annabeth answered. She turned to me, "Stay here."

"No, I want to come," I said without even thinking. Then, I realized it was a great idea. It seemed like a good way for me to see what the life of a demigod was really like.

"It's too dangerous," Annabeth explained, in a sisterly way that I didn't appreciate. "You need training."

"Let her come, because she'll come anyway," Nico snapped, his voice gruff. He was right, and it was a bit creepy. "Suit her up."

"Nico…are you sure?" Annabeth was hesitant, but it seemed like she was thinking the same thing. They had no choice. "You have 2 minutes to suit up, Rose. If you aren't ready, we are leaving without you." She pointed towards the armor shed. I raced down there without thinking twice, and pulled on a suit. It took a bit longer than I expected, but I was raced outside with a few seconds to spare. Nico, Percy, Annabeth and a few others that I didn't know, were waiting by the gate.

"Is that a….?" my voice trailed off when I realized what we were riding on.

"Pegesus," Percy shrugged as if it was no big deal. Man, nothing was a big deal to him. Someday, I might be calm about all of this too. "Jump on, you can ride with Nico."

Nico groaned and I knew he was sick of being paired with me. I didn't really know what he had against me, but I would soon find out, I guess.

"How am I supposed to jump on a pegesi?" I asked, staring at the large creature in front of me. Without saying a world, Nico picked me up and pulled me onto the pegesus. I landed with an OOF, and creature took off.

Before I knew it, we were under attack.


	5. Every camp has killer capture the flag

It's short, and maybe a little boring, but this is just setting everything up. PLEASE review! Thanks(:

It seemed as if the creatures had come out of nowhere. I blinked, and then there were forty flying creatures surrounding us. We were several hundred feet above ground, so landing was no option.

"Pull out your sword," Nico advised.

"Only swing if you must! Don't use up energy!" Percy yelled.

"Attack only if they atta-" Annabeth didn't have a chance to finish her sentence. The creatures flocked towards us, and we soon found ourselves in the middle of a feathery mess. I can't really explain to you what it was like. My mind was full of what do I do?" and "swing!" and "watch out!" I couldn't really make sense of it all, but my body automatically fought for me. I swung, blocked and swiped every chance I got. I wasn't sure if I was actually helping, but soon the creatures were dying off. I was breathing hard, and my arms hurt. I could see why everyone was so skinny. This definitely burned calories. I giggled at the thought.

Nico glanced back at me, as if I was insane. I couldn't read his expression, though. Did he find me amusing, or simply annoying? I didn't have time to dwell on the thought.

"BEHIND YOU!" someone yelled. I whirled around and there was a creature right in front of me. I took a lucky shot and threw my sword towards it. My sword slit through its chest, and the creature fell like a dead fly. The creatures were dead.

We landed on the beach, and we all fell onto the sand.

"So, Rose, what did you think of your first little mission?" Percy asked, as he played around with his sword. He seemed full of energy, even though we had just finished a fight.

"It was…fun," I realized 'fun' was the perfect word. It was thrilling, intoxicating, and just plain fun. "I want to do this every day. It's like a party, except better." Everyone gave me an odd look, so I decided to shut up.

"We better get back. We've missed breakfast and half of our training sessions. Rose needs to realize that it isn't like this every day," Annabeth said, standing up and brushing the sand off of her butt. I did the same. We flew back to the camp, relieved when we were safe inside the small boundaries.

Chiron galloped towards us. "Are you guys going to be up for capture the flag tonight?"

I expected everyone to groan because they were so tired, yet every cheered. Obviously, this was something fun.

"What team are Nico and Rose on?" one camper asked. Chiron gave him a look that said, '_I haven't figured that out, but don't let them know that.' _I smiled at Chiron's obviousness.

"Come, Rose. It is time you have a bit of sword training," Chiron motioned towards me, "Hop onto my back." I smiled and Chiron grabbed my arm and swung me onto his back. He galloped through the camp. It was exhilarating.

He stopped by a large Greek arena and I slipped off of his back.

"Jason will help you with finding the right weapon for you, and then Leo will build you the perfect weapon," Chiron said, and waved me off. I found a handsome boy chatting with a gorgeous girl in the middle of the arena. They both turned to me, with smiles on their faces.

"Ah, the new girl," Jason remarked, "You must be Rose. I'm Jason, and this is Piper." He gestured towards Piper with a gleam in his eyes. "So, do you like working with swords, or do you work with knives? Maybe a bow and arrow?"

I shrugged. I had no idea. I wasn't exactly an expert on weapons. Jason was able to read my expression and he tossed me a sword. I caught it by its handle and swung it around. For the next two hours, Jason taught me all the basics and even a few tricks. I was pouring sweat by the time our session was over.

Annabeth and Percy walked me over to dinner, where I pushed food into the fire and then sat down at a table by myself. I looked around, suddenly feeling alone. Everyone had their spot. Everyone was accepted. Everyone was family. Then there was me.

"You'll get used to it," Nico said as he sat down at my table. I guess this was the outcast table. "You'll get claimed soon, though." I smiled at him, grateful that he was trying to comfort me. He didn't speak again.

Finally, it was time for Capture the Flag. Little did I know that this night was going to change my life.


	6. Not the only one who is keeping quiet

Hey guys, hopefully you will enjoy this chapter. Now, I know, Nico is totally different than he was in the books, but you'll understand why later. You'll see the 'old Nico' later in the story. Anyway, PLEASE review if you want updates(:

Capture the Flag was definitely not what I was expecting. Actually, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. This seemed like a life or death battle. Everyone was yelling and fighting, and I was stuck in the mist of it. I wandered around, dodging swipes and fallen soldiers. Okay, I lied. It wasn't THAT intense. There weren't any dead bodies.

Then I found Nico, who was battling an Apollo child. I wanted to intercept, but I decided to let Nico handle it himself. The Apollo kid finally ran off, and Nico wiped sweat off of his brow. Then, I noticed something shining next to his foot.

"Move," I demanded. I didn't wait; I pushed him away, and moved away the dead leaves. In the ground was a shiny silver necklace. My mind was like, "_oh shiny" _but my heart was saying that this was important. I didn't know why, but it seemed like it was important. The silver necklace had floral designs cut into it, and the lining was gold. It was probably the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

"Jewelry from the gods," Nico muttered, gently taking it from my hands. I had never seen him so awestruck. I gave him a confused expression, but he didn't care to explain. He began to tuck it into his pocket when I stopped him.

"Shouldn't we show Chiron?" I suggested. Nico nodded, as if the idea had never even occurred to him. That's when I realized that Nico wasn't used to the authority of Chiron. Nico was more of the, "I found it, it's mine" type. He handed me the necklace, and I decided to put it on, so I wouldn't lose it. I had a reputation for losing jewelry.

Nico and I split up, and finished the game. My team won, which I wasn't surprised. The opposing team didn't seem surprised either. People kept saying, "It's not fair. They have all the good people." I hoped someday I would have the reputation of the "good person." I've never been the person to care about what people thought of me, but this was different. This was my, so to speak, family. I had to prove to them that I was a good addition to this family.

There was a celebration, and it was a great opportunity to meet people. Annabeth introduced me to the Ares cabin, (whom scared me), and the Hermes cabin, and everyone else. They all seemed friendly, but it was obvious they had other things on their mind. I was almost nothing to them. I was just the new girl. I bet they had new additions almost every day.

I looked at Annabeth, and realized just how special she was to everyone. Everyone knew her name, and had something good to say about her. They always had time for her. It seemed like Percy, Annabeth and Jason Grace were the heroes of this camp. I made a promise to myself that someday I would be a hero.

I went back to my cabin, and took off my necklace. Nico came up behind me. I whirled around to face him.

"You know something about this necklace," I danged it in front of him. His eyes slowly followed it, and I knew he knew the importance.

"I already told you, its jewelry of the gods," he said, shrugging as if it was no big deal. I could tell he was struggling with staying calm. Of course, this teenage boy didn't seem the type to get obsessive or jumpy. For some reason, I have the ability to read people. I could read Annabeth and Percy like a book. Nico was more difficult, but I saw things others didn't see. I could tell he was hiding a huge secret, even though he didn't act like he did. He was a good actor.

"Isn't most jewelry from the gods?" I asked, sitting on my bed. I patted for Nico to sit next to me. He rolled his eyes, but he sat down.

"Nah, there is almost no jewelry that the gods have actually touched…Let alone worn," he almost whispered the last part, "especially _this _necklace." Then he suddenly jumped up, as if he realized where he was, and who I was. He shut off his conversation, and grabbed his sword. "I'm going to train."

I had a feeling he wasn't going to train. So, when he walked out of the cabin, I followed him. He wandered through the forest, taking random twists and turns, as if he knew he was being followed. I let him stray a little before I began moving. Then, I realized we were outside of the camps boundaries. I was vulnerable. I quickened my pace to keep up to Nico. The forest opened up into a field of dandelions. I stayed back, but then Nico disappeared. I instantly stepped out of the forest, and soon the field surrounded me.

Standing in the middle of the field, was Nico and another man. This man seemed to have a strong vibe to him, and he seemed as if he was glowing.

"Father," Nico muttered, nodding his head, "I have news about the girl." They didn't seem to notice that I was standing by them. They were looking at each other with an unrecognizable intensity. "She has not been contacted by her mother."

"Impossible," the man was obviously a god. I saw that now. Hades. "Maridyth is not the time to waste time. She should have contacted Rose by now." The mention of my name made me drop to my knees. They were talking about me. So many thoughts were running through my head.

Before more could be said, something appeared in front of me, its claws reaching for my face.


	7. Where I come from, dreams are real

The first thing I saw was the yellow eyes. The monsters eyes reflected my own. I fell onto my back, kicking with my feet. I was wishing I had a sword with me. Even now, I can't describe what the creature looked like. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen, that's all I know. I remember its claws, though. It had black, skeleton fingers with long, sharp nails sticking out. I don't know if the creature was more animal or more human. I struggled and pushed, trying to not let the thing touch me.

Nico ran over to me, his sword ready to use. He slashed at the monster, but the monster turned to mist and recollected. He slashed again and again, yet the monster did not appear to be harmed. Then, Hades suddenly appeared above me, and his red eyes shot into the monsters. The monster yowled and hissed, and then it turned into mist.

I found my way to my feet, and dusted off my butt. "Is it dead?"

Hades turned to look at me. He didn't answer my question. He looked me up and down, and then turned away. It was as if he had been expecting something more.

"What was that?" I called out, "why did it try to kill me? Why couldn't Nico kill it? Hades?" This was the first god I had ever met, and I was being treated like dirt. "Oh, thank you for saving me!"

Hades didn't look my way. I turned to Nico, "Tell him to talk to me."

"No," Nico stated and then followed his father. They turned to each other, and whispered. I could only catch a few words of their conversation, "what do we…no, that's not…Zeus…Rose…Necklace…" They huffed at each other and turned away. Hades disappeared and Nico began to walk back to camp.

"Nico! Slow down! Tell me what just happened! Have you seen one of those before?" Even though I had just been attacked, I had so much energy inside of me. I wanted all of my questions to be answered.

Nico stopped in his tracks and turned to me. "Stop. Asking. Questions." I had never seen him so intense and angry. His eyes were like fire. "You should have stayed in camp and not followed me. You shouldn't be a part of this." He shook his head and muttered to himself, "She will turn out just like me." I wanted to ask him what he meant.

I caught up to him. "Nico, what were you like when you came to this camp? Why is there no Hades cabin?" He glared at me. "Okay, sorry, I won't ask so many questions. Just answer those two."

He didn't answer me until we were at the foot of the cabin. He lies on his bed, and then suddenly spoke up. "A Hades cabin has been built."

"What happened to it?" I asked.

"Classified," he answered, "Now sleep." I could hear him getting comfortable, so I closed my eyes. I was met by a haunting dream.

_"I see you have encountered my monsters," the woman was the same as before. I couldn't see her face, yet her yellow eyes gleamed. This time, I was in a dark forest, and the moon was seeping through the trees. "I'm surprised you haven't been killed yet." She let out an icy laugh, as if it was funny. "Of course, I don't want you dead."_

_ "What do you want?" I asked, my throat felt like cotton. The woman didn't answer my question. Instead, she walked a circle around me. Her cold hand touched my chin._

_ "Every night I am going to train you. You are going to be the strongest demigod in existence," she smiled in an evil way. A sword suddenly appeared in my hand. "Throughout this forest are several monsters. You must defeat them all before you can escape." She smirked and stepped into the shadows._

_ I felt something watching me from behind. I whirled around yet I saw nothing. A branch snapped from my left. I turned, yet nothing was there. I bit my lip from nervousness, and slowly advanced in a random direction._

_ A monster pounced on me. It had come from above. It pinned me down, yet I still had my sword in my hand. I struggled, so the monster would lose balance. It didn't budge. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have Hades or Nico to help me. _

_ Right before the monster bit my nose, it paused. It was as if it had suddenly frozen. The woman appeared above me. She was smirking at me, as if this was amusing._

_ "Alright, lesson one. A monster is always stronger than you. Yet, you are almost always smarter than the monster. Use your brain. Look around. Use the things around you. Don't depend on your sword. A monster depends on its abilities, but you can depend on more than just your abilities. Outsmart this beast. Fast," she whispered the last word and she was gone. I took a quick glance around, and I was ready when the monster began to move again._

_ I used my foot to kick up a broken branch. The branch was soppy wet, just as I had hoped. The branch landed on my neck. I bit the branch, and my teeth sunk into its rotten wood. I twisted my head, so the branch smacked the monster. It was so shocked, that it lost its composure for a second._

_ I spit the branch in its face and then I slid away from the monster. I quickly stood up, and defeated the monster in just a few swipes. The only thing that slowed me down was its haunting yellow eyes._

_ This continued for hours. I couldn't tell how much time went by, but I was exhausted. I could barely move. I was standing on a dead monsters body, and then the woman appeared. She was smiling, as if she was proud of me._

_ "You did decent for your first time," she said, "maybe tomorrow you will do this faster." A mirror appeared and she handed it to me. I took a look at myself. My face was untouched, but my body was covered in scratches and bruises. "I suggest you dress modestly tomorrow so no one can see those marks."_

_ That's when I noticed the necklace she wore._

I woke with a start. I was sweating and my body was sore. I felt as if I hadn't slept at all. I was frustrated. I hoped these 'dreams' would be every night. I wanted some decent sleep. I felt like a zombie as I slipped out of bed and washed my bloody arms. I didn't understand how a dream could affect my body.

I reached for the necklace, but it was gone.


	8. I finally have a purpose

This is probably a slightly boring chapter, but this is building up the plot! Action is soon to come! PLEASE review! Tell me what you think! Tell me what you like and dislike! ENJOY!

The necklace had been there hours ago. I glanced at Nico's sleeping body. I wondered if he had taken it. That was probably it. I should have hidden it. I didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts because the cabin door swung open and Annabeth walked in with a chart in her hand.

She looked around with approval, "5 out of 5." I gave her a confused look, "We are doing our morning cabin checks. You guys kept your cabin clean."

She was quiet for a second as she scribbled something on her chart. I took this chance to talk to her. "What happened to the Hades cabin?" She dropped her pencil from shock, but she didn't bother to pick it up. "There used to be a Hades cabin. What happened to it?"

"I'm not the best one to explain to you what happened. Go to Percy. He should be canoeing right now," she pointed out, and she quickly left without her pencil. She seemed startled that I brought up the Hades cabin. I quickly pulled on my shoes and ran over to the huge lake. Sure enough, Percy was in charge of canoeing. He was calling out instructions to a kid who was being attacked by a lake monster. Well, that just ruined my idea of canoeing.

"Percy?" I called out to him. He was by the shore of the lake, sitting in a small canoe. He saw me and used his powers to come ashore. He motioned for me to sit in the canoe with him. I sat down in front of him, and we were soon in the middle of the lake. I found myself cautiously looking over the edge, just watching for any monsters. "What happened to the Hades cabin?"

He gave me a strange look that even I couldn't decode. It was almost a, _how do you know about that? _Look. It was almost as if this was a huge secret. He sighed and leaned back. "Hades has never been a favorite god. Then Nico came along, and he became accepted here. He was a great kid, you know. So, we built a Hades cabin. Yet…there was a misunderstanding…and there was a battle between Hades and another god. Soon enough, Hades was spat on by everyone, even his own kids. Most of Hades kids ran off, refusing to call themselves a demigod. The gods issued for any memory of Hades to be burned. That included the cabin."

"So what happened to Hades?" I asked, remembering his face from the night before.

"He was thrown off the throne of the underworld. He wasn't allowed to ever go to earth again. Nobody has heard from him in a few years," he explained. _Except Nico, _I thought.

"What's Nico's story?" I asked, hoping that this would be a great story.

Percy seemed to be fighting with himself. He couldn't decide if he should tell me something. "I can tell you a little bit. The rest of it…well, we don't share things like that. Anyway, Nico and his sister came to Half Blood camp a while ago. Nico was a great, innocent kid. He was fascinated with everything, and it seemed like nothing could bring him down," Percy was smiling as he said this. I smiled too. I couldn't imagine Nico as a happy kid. He had so much bitterness in him, it seemed impossible that he had ever been a curious, joyful child. "Then, his sister died and the war with Kronos happened. Everything changed."

He didn't tell me more than that. Now I was burdened by even more questions. _What had happened to Nico that really changed him? What was his part in the war with Kronos? Why is he hiding the fact that he is in contact with his father? _There was so much I wanted to know.

That's when there was a shriek from the shore. Percy immediately had the lake sweep us to land, and we jumped out. Almost all of the campers were in a circle, their eyes wide. In the middle was a red-headed girl, whose freckles invaded her face. Her eyes were green. I don't mean crayon green, I mean like, _glowing _great. Like a light saber green. She was shaking violently and her lips were moving yet no words came out.

Percy didn't seem to find anything odd about this event. It must be something that happens every day. Then again, it doesn't seem like anything shocks Percy. He must have seen it all.

"_There will come a day," _the girls voice was hoarse and a bit scary, "_when a choice will be made. The new girl will find her way. A dagger to the heart, a knife to the neck. She will know where to start, on the deck of a gods mountain. A war will come, and she will end it. A chain to lead her, a boy to hold her back. Secrets will destroy one, kill one and lead one to safety. The day the rose will bloom. The day is today." _The girl collapsed and the campers were immediately chattering. The girl finally stood up and smiled at me. "Hi, I'm Rachel." She turned to Percy, "What did I say?"

Percy shrugged but Annabeth was able to quote it word for word. She looked at me when she said, "The day the rose will bloom."

Chiron galloped towards us and gave them a knowing look. "It looks like Rose has got herself a quest," he said.

"What?" I exclaimed, "How do you know that this quest is for me? I don't even understand what this means!"

"Let's go to the big house," he answered. Annabeth, Percy, Leo, Jason, Rachel, Nico and I followed him into the big house. We sat around a ping-pong table and Rachel made some lemonade. I didn't touch my glass. "I have had a dream from the gods. Rose is the one who lead this quest. Yet, we need to know who the 2 are that will go with her."

Everyone looked at each other, but I kept my eyes on my lemonade glass. I picked it up and swirled it around, watching the lemonade mix. I didn't care who went with me. I didn't even know what the heck was going on. They all began chatting and I finally got upset. I decided to speak up, "What the heck is GOING on?" I sounded a bit harsher than I meant to.

Everyone shut their mouths and looked at me with curious eyes.

"The gods have given you a quest. You heard the prophecy. None of us totally understand what the prophecy is, but we know where to start. Mount Mylon. It's considered the 'mountain of gods'," Annabeth explained, "It'll be great. I know it sounds scary-"

"Scary? It sounds freaking AWESOME," I wasn't kidding. A quest? An adventure? Go to the mountain of the gods? This sounded like a blast. Everyone smiled but I could tell there was something fake about it. "I know who I want to come with me." Everyone waited. "Nico."

Percy spilled his lemonade, Rachel started choking on nothing, and Annabeth stopped breathing. Nico didn't move. His facial expression didn't change.

"Nico seems like he'd be a lot of help," I rushed to explain, "he seems experienced at these things."

No one replied to this. Everyone froze at the word '_experience.' _

"What? What am I missing here?" I demanded to know, "Tell me what you guys are thinking!" I was frustrated and overwhelmed by this, and they weren't helping. They all looked at each other, as if they were thinking the same thing.

"Are you kidding, Nico will be a great companion!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"He will help you so much! You couldn't have made a better choice!" Percy added. I glared at them. That was the most fake thing I had ever heard.

I decided to show them what I could really be like. I was going to let out my stubborn side. "Then I'm not going on this quest. You guys aren't telling me something, and I want to know what it is," I stood up and walked out of the room.

"Tell her, Nico," I heard Chiron tell Nico. I was out the door, and by the lake by the time Nico came.


	9. with more answers, come more questions

This is just setting the stage for what is to come(: I hope you guys enjoy! If you would like fast updates, PLEASE review! Thank you! Tell me what you like, dislike, and what I should change! You get a cookie off of THIS IMAGINARY platter! (Generous, aren't I?)

I sat by the lake, and Nico sat down next to me. I didn't bother to look at him. My mind was on other things. I was still in the, _oh my god this is real _phase. All of this seemed impossible, and now I was being thrown into a "quest." I didn't know what to do, or what to say. I didn't even have time to think about who I was. I never thought before I acted, but now it was different. Every action I make could change my life. This was one of those situations. I don't know if you have been there, but it's hard. My life has never been easy. Growing up in an orphanage isn't exactly a party, but this was way worse.

"You are kind of lucky," Nico finally spoke up. I turned to him, about to snap at him. How could I possibly be lucky? "Percy was 12 when he found out he was a demigod. The second he found out, he was accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt. Because of him, the gods were at war. He had a quest to go and stop it. He didn't know who he was, or what to do, but he did it. Imagine, Rose. 12 years old." I had never heard him talk so much. He talked slowly, as if he was still figuring out what to say. He took a deep breath, "Rose, all I'm trying to say is that you aren't the only one who's been through this. This has happened to all of us."

"Even you?" I asked. I looked him straight in his eyes. His black eyes were full of mischief and, what seemed like, cruelty. Yet, at this second, what he was saying didn't match his eyes. I didn't know what to trust-his words or his eyes. I didn't need him to answer my question, though. I knew the answer. It had happened to him, too.

He didn't answer my question anyway. I decided to try to show him who I really am.

"I love the idea of being a demigod," I stated, "It's awesome. It's cool. Oh my god, I can't find a word that describes how epic this is. Yet…I've known from the beginning that reality was going to catch up with me. I've already figured out that it isn't a picnic in a park. Well, it actually is. It's a picnic in the park while being mauled by 7 monsters, and having gods trying to kill you."

Nico didn't smile, although I made myself laugh.

"These things don't happen every day," He said, laying back into the grass. I did the same. "Sometimes being a demigod can be boring. You're just special, I guess." At the time, I had no idea just how _special _he meant. "You're lucky, Rose. You get to have an exciting life, full of adventure. You make friends easily. You get to go on a quest." He looked at me and I knew there was more that he wanted to say.

"Tell me, Nico," I whispered, "Tell me what's on your mind."

His face was expressionless for a while, and then he finally spoke up. "Don't let horrible things get to you. When something bad happens, keep your chin up. Things are going to happen, and you're going to get down. Just get back up again." His eyes had stayed cold throughout every word. It was as if those words were empty. It was good advice, but it didn't seem like it came from his heart. If he had a heart.

"So you are saying, keep my innocence," I stated. He just nodded. We became silent.

He stood up and walked away. I was left, a little bit more confused than before. Nico seemed nice with his words. _Those eyes, _I thought. They were like black holes. Just cold blackness. That's when I realized why everybody had freaked out when I had chosen Nico. Nobody really knew him. Even Percy, who had practically grown up with Nico, didn't know anything about him. It seemed as if they were scared of Nico, and what he could do. They didn't trust Nico. He wasn't exactly the top pick for a companion on a life-threatening quest.

Yet, something in my heart told me he was the right choice.

I went back into the Big House, and everyone gathered together.

"Tell me where Nico and I are going," I stated.

"Why aren't you picking a 3rd companion?" Percy asked. I shrugged. I just felt like the 3rd companion would fall into place later on. I didn't answer Percy.

Chiron handed me a bag that held a knife, a map, some ambrosia, drachma and human money. They all seemed hesitant to have us leave. We decided Nico and I would leave the next morning. Never had I ever been so excited, scared and overwhelmed. I was leaving on a quest that could kill me. I was leaving with a boy I didn't know.

_I'm not even 100% human, _I realized when I laid on my bed. I was _half god. _The idea made me giggle. I wasn't completely mortal! I suddenly got all excited. I was _special. _One of my parents was a _god. _I had always been fascinated with mythology, but this was different. This was _real. _It wasn't the roman times when everyone believed in them. This was 2011, and almost no one knew they actually existed. I snuggled down into my bed. Then, my mind went to the necklace. _A chain to lead her. _A chain would be what the necklace was connected to. Except I had no idea where the necklace had gone.

I tried to fight sleep; afraid of what dreams would come. Yet, I had a dreamless sleep. I woke up well rested. I got up, and washed my face, dressed, and waited for Nico to wake up. It wasn't until I looked in a mirror when I gasped.

The necklace was around my neck.


	10. I somehow save Nico from dying: Ironic:

Please do review! This kind of shows what is important in this story! ENJOY(:

I just pretended that nothing was odd. I mentally said my goodbyes to the camp. I didn't know how long I was going to be gone. Man, I didn't know if I would ever see this place again. Nico and I had decided to take a bus to California where Mount Mylon was. We would be taking several buses over the next 2 days. I hoped that the next few days would go smoothly. Hopefully no monsters would attack us. Of course, my hopes were crushed.

We caught the greyhound heading west. We didn't speak for the first 24 hours. That is, until we had to work together to survive. We were the only ones on the bus at 2am, until it made a short 5 minute stop in the middle of nowhere. A big, black man was the only one who boarded. He was wearing a cowboy hat that was tipped over his eyes, so his face was shadowed. He seemed hardcore cowboy, so it didn't seem too odd. He walked down the aisle, past my row. That's when I glanced down at his feet. The floor was barely lit, but I could make out his feet. He was wearing cowboy boots, but his toes were sticking out. Except, well, they weren't toes. They were claws. Kind of like how I would imagine Dragon Claws.

I pretended I was sleeping, and then after the 'man' sat in the back. I nudged the sleeping Nico. He groaned and moved away. I pinched his skin. His eyes flew open and he glared at me. I put a finger in front of my lips to shush him. I slowly pointed behind us. Nico cautiously looked back and saw the black man.

"Monster," I mouthed. He put his hand on his pocket, about to pull out his dagger. I motioned for him to not to. I wanted the monster to attack first. There was no need for a scene. He glared at me. He wasn't used to having a companion. He seemed like a _on my own _dude. I smiled at him. I liked his independence. I had no idea that soon enough, his independence would almost get us killed.

I was nodding off, until I noticed that the 'man' was in the row in front of us. I shoved Nico, who had fallen asleep again. Boy, that boy could sleep. He opened his eyes, and he instantly pulled out his dagger. Before I could stop him, his dagger was at the man's throat. The man swung off his cowboy hat and his eyes were yellow. I stumbled back at the eyes that matched mine. I didn't have time to think about it, because the man began to transform. His neck grew, his body turned blue, and soon enough he was a small dragon. When I say _small, _I mean about 8 feet tall.

"Umm…" I stumbled, averting my eyes to the bus driver. I didn't know what he was seeing, but I could tell he was getting furious.

Nico didn't seem surprised at all. He took a swipe at the dragons head. I pulled out my sword and stood my ground. I stroke the monster every time I could.

"Hey guys, settle down!" the bus driver yelled. He suddenly swerved off the road, and Nico and I were thrown into the window. We picked ourselves up and faced the dragon. The dragon began to blow fire. In case you don't know, fire and gas doesn't exactly mix well.

"We have to get out of here!" I yelled, coughing from all the smoke. The dragon had caught all of the seats on fire, and the bus driver had disappeared. Nico was busy battling the dragon, but I took a chance and grabbed his arm and we ran out of the bus. The dragon followed us, flames escaping its mouth. Don't even mention the dragons teeth…Yikes.

"Oh my god, just cut off its head!" I yelled, panicking. I was so tired, I could barely move. I was huffing from the smoke.

"Well maybe if you could help!" The second Nico replied, the dragon took a snap out of his arm. That was it. I wanted to kill the dragon for good. I took a jab at its neck, and then the dragons head fell off. I jumped back and watched as the blood oozed. Then the bus blew up, and Nico and I were covered in debris. Nico was bleeding. I ripped off my hoody and wrapped it around his arm. I had no idea where the closest hospital was. I still had my backpack, so I made him sip some ambrosia. He was moaning, and he was sweating. I had never seen him so vulnerable.

The ambrosia didn't seem to help at all. I was practically crying. I had no idea what to do.

"What do I do?" I cried out, to no one. I wasn't Poseidon's daughter, so I couldn't heal him with water. I laid my hands on his chest, and just sat there for a second, trying to collect my thoughts. There we were, on an empty road at 2am, the only light coming from the sliver of a moon. I started playing with the necklace, whispering a prayer to any god.

Nico was dying. His heart was slowing down. His lip was bleeding. He was gushing blood all over. He was going to bleed to death. _Oh my god, I can't even make it 28 hours without someone dying! _I felt awful. This was my entire fault. I had practically forced Nico on this stupid quest.

Then something tingled around my neck. My necklace was vibrating, and glowing. Then I looked at Nico's pale face. His face was glowing yellow. Then, his whole body was glowing yellow. I didn't understand what was going on, but slowly Nico's wounds healed. Then, the glowing died and Nico looked as if he had never been touched. Every wound or flaw had been removed. I just sat there in awe, not sure what had just happened.

I dragged Nico under a tree, and pulled a small blanket out of my backpack. I tried not to think about the necklace, or the glowing thing. It was too much. I was just happy that Nico was healed and alive. I laid the blanket over him, and then I slept a few feet away.

Nico shook me awake. I sat up and realized that the blanket was now on me. I smiled at him. "What happened last night?" He asked.

I took off my necklace and handed it to him. "I think the necklace saved your life." He didn't act surprised. I was dying to know what he knew about this necklace. I just knew that it would take a while before he would ever tell me.

He handed me a burrito. I hesitantly took it, not sure where he had gotten a burrito. "Let's get a move on." I barely had time to swallow my burrito before we took off. We acted as if nothing had happened the night before.

The next 24 hours went smoothly. We got off the bus in California, and found myself staring at the most wonderful thing I had ever seen.


	11. nothing is ever as it seems

Please read 'til the end. I know it starts out slow, but I think you'll like the end. The characters are suddenly not sure about who they are…I think you'll understand. If you would like a chapter soon, PLEASE review!:D

The mountain made me feel so small. Its peak towered over me, and people surrounded me. The reason that this mountain is so famous is because of its odd environment. On the mountain, there are plants only found in Korea and animals only found in Africa. On this mountain, in the middle of California, was considered the oddest place on earth. I could see why. I could easily spot trees that reminded me of jungles, and I thought I spotted a giraffe head poking through the tree.

"This isn't possible," I muttered, "Where's my camera? This is…amazing." Nico didn't seem to be in awe. He just gestured for me to follow him.

"Where do we go now?" I asked.

"The peak," he answered. I gave him a questioning look. "Things are _always _at the peak of a mountain. It's a god thing." I shrugged and followed him. There were no roads that went up the mountain, just a dozen paths winding around the mountain side.

"I don't understand how all these animals can be," I said, "it's scientifically impossible. All these animals cannot adapt to one climate."

Nico stopped me at the base of the trail. He was struggling with something.

"Would you like to have a great hike up the mountain, or would you like to see what is really going on?" he finally asked.

"You don't even need to ask. I want to see what is really going on," I answered.

"Close your eyes, Rose. Even demigods can be deceived by the mist. When you open your eyes, try to really see everything," Nico sounded like a voice recording. I definitely wasn't the first person he had told this to. I closed my eyes, not exactly sure what I was going to see. My eyelids flew open, and instead of exotic animals, they were monsters.

"The mist has been hiding their true form for years," Nico explained.

"Why aren't they attacking us?" I was now hesitant of stepping foot onto the trail. It seemed like an entrance of death to me.

"They are refugees. They do not seek war. As long as we don't attack them, they don't attack us," that was all Nico said before he began to walk up the trail. I slowly followed him, staying in the middle of the trail. I tried to hide my nervousness, but since the night before, I had been on the edge of my seat.

It took several hours to hike up to the peak. Nico and I didn't speak a word, and it drove me crazy. I wanted to know about his sister, his godly parent, and his life. I wanted to know about _him. _When we were close to the peak, I had enough courage to ask him a few questions.

"What was your sister like?" Okay, I admit. It's not exactly the best question to ask. Yet it was all that popped into my head.

Nico didn't even bother to answer.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'm probably around 86 years old."

I laughed at this. Obviously, he was kidding. Yet, I caught a glance of his eyes. He wasn't kidding. I opened my mouth and clamped it shut. It would take a while for that to sink in. "What about this necklace?"

Nico didn't answer. We were at the peak just before sunset, and there was a sign that said, "YAY you made it to the peak." There were a bunch of boulders surrounding us. I didn't know what we were looking for, but I observed every little detail. There was an electric wire fence that blocked off a certain part of the mountain. I poked Nico and motioned him to follow me. I was able to slip under the fence without being touched. Nico did the same. We dashed behind a boulder and then I saw that there was a small sign engraved in every single boulder.

IT was the same design on my necklace. It was a small straight line with little swirly things surrounding it. Every detail was exactly the same. I showed Nico. He didn't seem surprised. I had no idea what this could possibly mean. Obviously, the necklace was connected with the mountain of gods. That's when I noticed that there was a small arrow on each of the boulders, each pointing to the right. Pointing down the mountain.

I groaned. "You are _so _kidding me. We spend hours walking up, just to be led down," I groaned as I followed the arrows through the rocks, and after a while, we were back to the trees. There was an arrow on a tree that pointed us into a cave.

"Umm…Nico, you can go in first. I don't do well with caves," I said, pushing him in front of me. He just shrugged and walked straight in. I was expecting a monster, or even just a trap. Yet, all we found was a small box covered in dead leaves. I picked up the box and took it out of the cave. It was already pretty dark, but the moon and the stars helped me see. I turned on a flashlight as Nico opened the box. Inside was the oldest book I had ever seen.

The book was written in Greek. Nico skimmed over the first page. "They are letters from Zeus to a woman named…Cladyla?" (cla-dy-la.) "We better get a hotel and read through this. It must be important."

"We will never make it to a hotel until morning," I reasoned. It would be better to camp out. Then again, this wasn't exactly a safe place.

Before I could say anything more, Nico touched my wrist and that's when I did Shadow Travel for the first time. It was fun and terrifying at the same time. I felt as if my face was being ripped off and my eyes were watering. It only lasted a few seconds ago. Before I knew it, Nico and I stood in front of a nice Embassy Suites hotel. Nico was swaying from exhaustion.

I hurried in and I practically had to drag Nico into a room. There was a kitchen, and two big beds. I flipped on the TV and ordered room service. Nico was taking a nap, so I just ordered him a burrito. He seemed to like those. I fell asleep watching South Park and woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. Nico was cooking on the stove.

"You can…cook?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes. "Where did you get the food?"

"There is a walmart next door," he said, placing an egg and a few pieces of bacon on a plate for me. He piled his plate up with food. We ate silently, and then Nico opened the first page of the book, ready to read it thoroughly.

"This letter is from Zeus, in year 1848 to the goddess Calyda. I've never heard of Calyda before though. Maybe people stopped believing in her and she faded. _Dear Calyda, I am sorry to hear about the tragic accident. It was a shame your husband died, even though he was a measly mortal. I'm sure you loved him. I know you want to lock your daughter away, because she reminds you of him. Don't, Calyda. I know you. You are stubborn and independent, and you now have the idea stuck in your head. Let your daughter live…You're daughter will be safe at…" _Nico trailed off.

"What? What?" I asked, my eyes wider than a saucepan. Nico didn't answer. He just stared at the page.

"What's your last name?" he asked.

I shrugged, "Everyone said my last name is Kaleen. Supposedly my name was on a note when the orphanage found me. I was young, but nobody ever told me how old I was…" I got lost in the thought. Then I jerked back to reality, "Why?"

"This says, _I will ask Marcy May to accept your daughter, Rose Kaleen…" _

I screamed so loud, I couldn't help it. I grabbed the book from him. Somehow, I was able to read it, even though I didn't know Greek.

_Accept your daughter…Rose Kaleen._

"That's impossible. Zeus can't mean me. I didn't live in 1848…" My voice trailed off. I fell onto the bed.

_Your daughter, Rose Kaleen. _


	12. Nico tells me a story

This one has lots of talking, I know. It's really important though. THANKS so much for the reviews! I'm having a bit of a writers block, but the more reviews I get, the more inspired I am! Please tell me the areas I need to work on. I know, I'm not very good at balancing action and bonding time, but I'm working on it! I'm trying to update as much as possible, because on Saturday, I leave for a cruise, so I won't be able to update for 3 weeks! So ENJOY and tell me what you think!

_ Calyda sat with her brothers in sisters on the throne. Her yellow eyes were critical and angry. The gods and goddesses that surrounded her had the same look. They were having the usual family feud._

_ "This is the millionth time that you 'accidentally' ran into my castle with your chariot," Aphrodite scolded Apollo. Aphrodite's hair was every color and her eyes had speckles of various shades. Zeus was battling with Ares. The only one who wasn't speaking was Calyda. Finally, she became so frustrated, she couldn't hold it in. _

_ "PLEASE!" she banged her fist against the table, and everyone shut their mouths. It seemed as if they feared their sister. Poseidon lowered his trident from Hermes's face. They all took their seats, and waited for Calyda to continue. "This is ridiculous! We are up here while the world is falling apart. There are soon to be no humans to believe in us, and we will fade! I have an idea-"_

_ Before she could continue, the double doors were pushed open and Hades walked in. No one moved as Hades walked over to Zeus._

_ "Hades, you do not have permission to be here," Zeus demanded. Everyone was smart enough to keep their cool, except there was a terrified look in Calyda's eyes. _

_ "I think that you would want to know that there is a traitor among you. One of the gods is trying to destroy you," Hades said, his eyes studying each god. _

_ "Absurd!" Hermes protested. _

_ "Have you ever stopped to question how this war started? It's because of her!" Hades pointed to Calyda's chair, yet she was gone. _

I opened my eyes. I was lying on the bed, the blankets over me. It was dark outside. The clock stated that it was 2am. I had been asleep for quite a while. I couldn't shake the dream I had just had. Calyda was a traitor god? I sat up, and noticed that Nico wasn't in his bed. I swooped out of bed and walked out of the bedroom into the little 'living' area. Nico was on the couch, the laptop in his hands. He was asleep. I picked up the laptop and set it on the coffee table. I put a blanket on Nico and then sat down in front of the laptop.

Nico had been researching Calyda. He had searched "The goddess, Calyda" on Google, yet there had been no results. It was as if Calyda had never existed on the throne of the gods. She had been deleted from history. I typed in 'necklace of the gods' and then an image of my necklace popped up. I clicked on the first result, and began reading. There was nothing interesting. It just said that the necklace had been made by an unknown god, and it was now on earth. There was no mentioning of why it was so important. Nico would have to be the one to tell me that. I just needed to know soon. I turned off the laptop and picked up the book of Zeus and Calyda.

_November 8__th__, 1858_

_ Dear Zeus, _

_ I cannot find Rose anywhere. I know I have betrayed you, but I need her. It is as if she no longer exists. I put her safely in the Lotus Casino, yet when I went to find her, she was not there. It seems as if she has escaped. Someone has stolen her. I cannot detect her anywhere on this planet. Where. Is. She?_

_ January 9__th__, 1901_

_ Calyda,_

_ I understand your need to find Rose. It seems as though the whole world needs her. I am not ignorant of the fact that she will become the end of the gods. I have the necklace that you sent me. The second that I detect her, I will give her the necklace, and she will find her way. I need to find her as much as you do. I will just make sure I find her first. The gods will not waste time in finding her, and letting her know of the prophecy. Of course, there are little prophecies that she must fulfill before anything else happens. I just hope that she returns soon, and she will discover the importance of the necklace._

_ Zeus._

The necklace seemed to have so much importance. I was tempted to wake Nico right then, but he seemed so peaceful. Not only that, but I was sure he had already read this whole book. Most of the book were letters to each other, explaining where they had looked. I touched my necklace. Obviously, Zeus had found me, since I had the necklace. This necklace was from Zeus. Yet, he had said, "I will just make sure I find her first." What did that mean?

At 8am, I got tired of reading, and decided to make breakfast. I went to the store and purchased the right ingredients for pancakes. I _loved _pancakes. I came back, and whipped them together. I shook Nico awake and gave him fresh pancakes. He didn't speak to me. After we had eaten, I sat him down at the coffee table and demanded to know about the necklace.

"See that pendant on it?" he asked, holding up the necklace. The silver pendant had designs carved all over it. "It's a locket. It opens."

I took it out of his hands and tried to pry it open. It showed no signs of being able to open.

"The locket can only be opened by the one who made it," Nico explained, "and inside, it holds a secret. I'm pretty sure the secret is the answer to our quest. So, the quest is probably leading us to the god who made it."

"Then why don't we just go to Mount Olympus?" I questioned.

"The gods never go up there anymore. It's only for meetings," he answered, as if it was obvious. "I've been going through the book, trying to figure out where we are supposed to go next. The only problem is that only one place is mentioned."

"Lotus Casino," I guessed. Nico nodded. "What's wrong with that place? What is it?"

"It's a Casino that captures you in…It dims your senses. What feels like an hour to you is really a decade, pretty much," he explained. His eyes were sad, as if he had experienced this.

"That's how you like 80," I suddenly realized. "You were stuck in there, with your sister!"

He just nodded, and I could tell this was an off-limit topic. To me, there was no such thing as an off-limit topic.

"Because of the Lotus Casino, you're whole life changed…" My voice trailed off. I couldn't imagine coming out of a casino, to realize that everything had moved on without you. "We need to go there."

"There is nothing we will gain from going there," he said, crossing his arms. He really didn't want to go there.

"There could be another clue," I said, "it's not too far from here. Only like 6 hours." I then smirked and held up a credit card, "I _found _this at Walmart."

"Are you sure you aren't the daughter of Aphrodite?" he questioned. "Besides, we don't need that. I'm just going to hotwire a car." _That's badass._

We found a decent 1964 red mustang, and were able to drive that to Los Vegas.

"I can't imagine you as a happy, curious little kid," I suddenly spoke up as we left the hotel.

"People change," he muttered as he desperately focused on the road.

"Why don't you like Percy? What did Hades do that made everyone hate him?"

"Hades joined Calyda's side," Nico answered.

"Who is this Calyda goddess?"

"A long time ago, around 600 B.C until the 1600's, she was the 'favorite' god. Generous, reasonable, merciful and kept the gods together. Calyda never sired any demigods. She was strictly business, but she loved humans. Around 1625, she suddenly changed and betrayed her family. She caused the humans to hate them, except they still worshipped Calyda. She wanted her family to crumble, so she would receive all the power. She would be queen of the world. The gods were able to defeat her eventually, but they cast her out, and she hasn't been heard from. Everyone believed she fell from existence, because she became hated," Nico explained. I had never heard him explain something so thoroughly.

"Obviously, she is still around…" I muttered, thinking about my dreams with her.

"Which means trouble," Nico added. He had already known Calyda was still around.

"Wait, if this happened in 1600's, why did everyone start hating Hades just a few years ago?" I questioned.

"He started promoting Calyda's cause. He wants the gods to be destroyed as much as she does. It's because of Hades that Calyda is back now. He brought her back from Tartarus. It's a disaster. It's like Kronos all over again," he shook his head.

"Does anyone else at camp know about this? You know because Hades told you, face to face," I narrowed my eyes, "Hades shouldn't be contacting you, Nico."

"No one else knows. You needed to know because your Calyda's one and only daughter," he replied, his face dark with a shadow.

"Nico, have you talked to Calyda since she has come back from Tartarus?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

We pulled into the parking lot of the Lotus Casino. I was half scared, half excited.


	13. Two weeks of my life are stolen from me

**I'm going to try to update like once a day until I leave on Saturday. I'm running out of ideas, so reviews would really help me be inspired to be creative! PLEASE review and enjoy! I should be studying Spanish right now, (huge Spanish final tomorrow) but I wrote this instead! I hope its okay. I haven't had time to read it over and check for errors. And I spilled something on my laptop, so some of my buttons aren't working…especially the T which is really frustrating! Anyway, ENJOY. **

Everything about the Lotus Casino was shiny. There were shiny cars, shiny windows, and shiny colors. Even the people were shiny! Nico and I were way under dressed in our ripped jeans and dirty t-shirts. Everyone surrounding us was dressed in cocktail dresses and flawless tuxedos. I was awestruck by this place. Dozens of people were laughing and cheering, as if there wasn't a care in the world.

"Get that longing look out of your eyes," Nico snapped, "we get what we need and leave."

"What are we even looking for?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of the food table. "Can we eat?"

"Don't touch anything," he said, his eyes were looking everywhere. He was nervous, and I could tell he was uncomfortable. This was not a wild party to him. "Just look for anything that screams 'god' to you."

"Hello!" The man held two room keys in his hand, and he was smiling bigger than an evil bunny. "Here are complimentary rooms! Enjoy your stay!"

Nico took them so he wouldn't cause a scene, but the second the man walked away, Nico threw them into the trash. "Now spread out. Meet me back at the front in ONE hour. Keep your eyes on your watch. You are probably looking for a small item. So check out the poker tables." Nico was trying really hard to stay focused.

` I agreed and rushed off to the poker tables. "Would you like to play a round?" a handsome boy asked me. He had a sweet smile, and I looked around. Nico wasn't in sight. It wouldn't kill me to play a round of poker. I mean, _hello, I'm at a casino. _It would be a sin to not play poker when visiting a shiny casino.

"I don't know how to play," I told the boy.

"I'll teach you. I'm Ryan, who are you?" he asked.

"Rose." Some kind of light turned on in his head when I said my name. I chose to ignore it. Ryan was just a silly boy was stuck in the Lotus Casino. He smiled bigger and sat me down. He helped me for a while before he suddenly disappeared. I was fine with that. I was a natural at poker. I was able to read everyone's facial expressions, so I knew when they were bluffing. I ended up playing several rounds. Each round was really short though, so I doubted an hour had gone by.

Finally, I got bored of winning so I took my prizes and began to wander around, searching for anything that would give me a clue. I saw the boy who had taught me poker, and smiled. He frowned and his eyes flashed yellow. I looked around and almost everyone's eyes were flashing yellow.

That's when I panicked. I was surrounded by enemies. Most of these people weren't just stuck here; they were now under control and working for someone. I dropped everything I had won, and ran for the front of the Casino. The people were all staring at me, with smirks on their faces.

I spotted Nico, and caught his arm. "We need to get out of here!"

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for _hours," _Nico hissed. He was angry. _Hours. _I realized my mistake. "I found what we needed forever ago. What were you doing?" He looked around, "It's too late to leave, Rose. We are going to have to fight our way out." I looked around and realized we were surrounded by guards.

I drew my sword, and Nico drew his own sword. His sword scared me to death. It was as black as a nightmare, and was three feet long. As scary as it was, it made me feel safer. Yet, it was still two against at least 50 people.

"Don't move until I count to 3," Nico whispered in my ear as they moved closer to us. "I have a feeling everything is not what it seems." His eyes were searching everyone else's, trying to figure out what to do. Then, I saw a light bulb go off in his head. He had a plan. "When I count to 3, you run to the left, and I'll go to the right. Meet by the bungee jump thing when you can. You'll see." He knew what he was doing. "1..." The people were only 10 feet away from us. That's when I saw that there was black smoke drifting off of their bodies. "2…" They were only 5 feet away from us now. That's when I realized they were changing shape. Then I understood. These guards and people were one single monster, all in different forms. Once they were close, they would turn into one form, and we would be able to fight it off. "3!"

I ran to the left. Nico didn't move. He didn't plan on moving. The monster formed into a chimaera. I really wish I didn't have to describe it, because its probably the scariest thing I had ever seen. It had 3 heads, one was a lion, the other was a goat, and the last one was a snake. The front part of its body was a lion, the middle was a boat and its tail was a snake. It was gigantic, and it breathed fire. It scared me, but I didn't let my body go into shock. I wasn't going to let Nico go against the monster alone. I jumped back beside Nico and held my sword tight.

The chimaera burst fire out of its lungs, but Nico and I rolled away. I took a swipe at its neck, but it was all in vain. This monster was fast, powerful, and experienced. The monster easily took a bite of my shirt and swung me away from Nico. It went after me. It was ignoring Nico. This monster was after _me. _I wasn't really surprised. It seemed like the whole world was after me.

I ran through the casino, throwing everything I could find. Even the chair didn't stop the monster. I watched where I was going, because it seems like in the movies, victims always fall when running for their lives. I wasn't going to let that happen. I tried to think of a plan, but I wasn't as neither experienced nor as smart as Nico. My mind was screaming _run, run, and run!_

I was finally cornered. The monster stood before me, its yellow eyes full of hatred. I was trembling, but I was able to swing around my sword. It bashed against the monsters skin, but it did not harm it at all. Then I remembered what Nico's plan was. _Meet by the bungee jump thing._

I did it without thinking. I jumped and wrapped my arms around the monsters neck, and I slid onto its back. The monster began bucking like a wild horse, yet I held onto the goat fur. I was only able to stay on for a few seconds, before I slipped off and ran for the bungee jump. Nico was standing there…with an army of skeletons.

All of skeletons surrounded the monster, but the chimaera was able to swipe them away. Yet, Nico had a plan. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and stabbed the ground with his sword. The ground cracked open and the monster fell through, along with all of the skeletons. The ground closed with a thundering crash, and everything became silent. There were only the dings of the gambling machines. I was breathing deeply, and Nico was sweating.

He turned to me, his eyes angry. "None of that would have happened if you hadn't taken so long! They realized who you were! What were you doing?" He was stressed and I think he may have been a little scared. He had probably thought he would have never found me, and been stuck here forever.

"Can we talk about this later? We should probably go," I snapped, a little bit more coldly than I had meant to. I was mad at myself. I had let myself be distracted and played games that had dulled my senses. I had told someone my name, and at that second, I knew I had messed up.

Nico held up a big ring. It looked like one of those class rings from the 1960's. It was big and blue. "Put it on your finger so you don't lose it." His voice was harsh, and he was holding a grudge against me. "Let's go." We were both shaken up as we left the casino and got in the car. I examined the ring. It had the Eiffel tower on it, and it had the same design as my necklace. I wondered how Nico had found this.

Nico turned on the radio, and the first thing we heard was "It's June 4th, 2011."

"We were in there for 2 _weeks?" _I gasped. "How is that possible?" Nico glanced over at me but didn't say anything for a while. "The ring has a picture of the Eiffel tower on it. So, we're going to Paris." My jaw dropped. _Paris? _I shrieked with excitement. I had always wanted to go to Paris! I would get to see the Eiffel tower in person! "This is going to be so much fun!" Nico didn't answer. "Nico, I'm sorry! I let myself get distracted! It's my fault! I was foolish! It won't happen again!"

"You should probably get some sleep. I'll find our way to the airport," Nico said, pretending I had never spoken.

I laid my head back, only to be met by terrifying dreams.


	14. Mermaids excuse me, naiads visit me

Hey guys! I hope you like the chapter! It's just a filler chapter, because there's no other way to get the characters to where they need to go! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE review! 3 you guys!

_"That was a mistake you could not afford to make," Calyda stood before me. We were in a raspberry orchard. The sun was rising over the strawberry plains, casting hues of red and orange throughout the sky. "Because you sat at that poker table, you were in there an extra week!"_

_ "Didn't you want me to be stuck in there?" I asked, confused. The monster had obviously been Calyda's servant. _

_ "Well, of course. Yet, you are my daughter and I don't want you to make stupid mistakes," she huffed with frustration, "I don't want a silly, stupid girl as my daughter. Which, you are a stupid silly girl. I'm here to change that." She pulled out a sword and tossed it to me, "You need to use your wits." She smirked and stepped back, "time for you to train." _

_ "Train for what?" I asked. _

_ She rolled her eyes, "Use your brain, Rose. Figure these things out." I stood still for a few seconds before I knew I had come to the right conclusion._

_ "You're a goddess who wants to destroy the other gods," I had already known this, "the gods have yet to declare war, yet they will soon. You want me to fight for you, because for some reason, I'm important to this war." I had to say it out loud for it to make sense. I still didn't know what this quest was for, but I had a feeling I would know once the prophecy was fulfilled._

_ Thunder clouds rolled in, and it began to pour. Calyda had disappeared, and I was alone in the raspberry orchard. The ground was mushy, and I realized I was barefoot. There was a cry, and I turned to see a little girl sitting in a cage. The cage wasn't made of metal. It was made of raspberry bushes, which in case you didn't know, are embedded with thorns. The little girl had big yellow eyes, and pale skin. She was sobbing, and crying out, "Mommy! Help me!"_

_ I had this tug in my heart, and I knew that my mission in this dream was to save the little girl. I began to circle the cage, looking out for what was coming. The rain was dimming my sense of smell and sight, and sound. Everything was harder to detect._

_ I heard a "whoosh" from behind. I whirled around. Nothing. I heard a crack from beside me. I turned. I saw nothing. I was shivering from the cold. Yet, it was nothing compared to what the child was feeling. Next thing I knew, I was facing a man with harsh brown eyes. He had a beard, and his hair was graying. He had broad shoulders, and he held a lightning rod. _

_ "Move away, girl," he hissed, "that child must be destroyed. Nothing that evil should exist. She should have never been sired."_

_ I hesitantly turned to look at the young girl. She looked at me with sad, scared eyes. She wasn't evil. She was confused, and lost. The man took this time to attack me._

_ Thunder clapped through the air, and lightning struck the ground. The man suddenly had a lightning bolt in his hands. I fell to the ground, trying to stay away from the tip of this weapon. I tried to block him with a sword, but he easily shot the sword out of my hands. His bolt touched my hand, and it sent electricity through my body. I laid on the ground, feeling as if my body was on fire. _

_ The man walked past me, and pulled the child out of the cage, his hands not harmed by the thorns. _

_ I looked in the child's eyes, I saw myself._

_ "Come along, Rose," the man said to the child._

_ That's when I woke. _

Nico was shaking me awake. We were landing in Paris. When we had waited for the plane, neither of us had spoken. We were so shaken up. Two weeks of my life had disappeared, even though it had felt like just a few hours! We didn't have anything to say about it, but our minds were racing. As excited as I was for Paris, I just couldn't shake the feeling.

Nico and I found a small bed and breakfast by the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't take any time to relax. We instantly went up the Eiffel Tower. I don't want to bore you with stupid details, but the Eiffel tower was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Nico was very calm as we climbed the stairs, but I was squealing. I wished I had a camera to take pictures. If only this was a laid back vacation. I found a way to really just enjoy the time though. That's what I liked about myself. I could just enjoy the little things.

We found nothing. We searched and wandered the Eiffel Tower, yet there was nothing. We left the tower, hours later, empty handed. Our energy was drained and we had pretty much lost faith. We had gone all this way, and found nothing. We didn't even know what to do next.

"Well, we can't rush this quest. Let's do some sightseeing," I handed Nico a map I had found. He rolled his eyes. I knew what he was going to say, _we aren't here to play. _"If we looked around, we could see what we are missing," I reasoned. He sighed and didn't have the energy to fight.

We wandered around, enjoying the pretty weather. That's when I saw it. Right in front of us was a beautiful river. We could take a boat ride. I yanked Nico onto a boat and we began to drift down the river.

"This would be _so _romantic if I was riding this with someone I love!" I squealed, imagining what it would be like. Let me set you straight, I'm not a romantic person. I don't believe in teen dating or any stupid crap like that. I just think it would be cute because it's fun to imagine things like that. Nico made a face. Nico wasn't a normal teenage boy. He didn't worry about girls, zits or his muscle mass. He had monsters and lives to worry about. He was really different than everyone else.

That's when I saw something stir in the river. There was a sudden splash, and Nico and I were soaking wet. We leaned over the boat and saw a figure in the water.

"Oh my god, I think it's a _mermaid," _I gasped.

"Let me guess, you've always wanted to be a mermaid," Nico mocked.

"Well yeah! Who wouldn't want to be a mermaid?" I said in awe. That's when a head of a woman stuck out of the river. "Um…" Let me tell you, it was awkward. She looked up at us with big, innocent blue eyes. Her tail stuck out of the water. I turned to Nico, "You didn't tell me mermaids existed!"

He rolled his eyes, "She's a naiad. Mermaids don't exist, Rose."

"_Yeah, yeah," _I smirked and looked down at the beautiful naiad, "What do you want?" I didn't ask it in a nasty tone. I asked it in a childish, fascinated tone.

"You are here looking for the next clue," her voice was soft and a little bit shaken. "Yet it is too late. Someone else is after the clues as well."

Nico and I looked at each other, with a hesitant _'great'_ look. This was not what we had hoped to look. This quest was hard enough without someone else trying to beat us to the final whatever-it-is.

"Who?" Nico asked, although he wasn't expecting an answer. It looked like he didn't like naiads very much.

The naiads face darkened and she didn't answer Nico's question.

"I am on your side," she told us, "the thing you were supposed to find was a pair of shoes that were from the oldest museum in the united states. I suppose you should know what to do now. Please hurry. I do not want the goddess to take over the world."

She smiled at Nico, "Goodbye and thank you for listening." She kissed his cheek and dipped into the water.

"I really like naiads. It's too bad I'm not one," I said, looking at the water in awe. Naiads were beautiful, gentle and sweet. "She was so helpful! Let's go to an internet café and find out where the oldest museum in the world is."

We walked over to the café and found out that the oldest museum in the United States was in Charleston, South Carolina.

"Nico…" I looked over my shoulder to see a black man with yellow eyes watching us. "We need to go, _now."_


	15. I encounter my enemy and a hot boy

_Two chapters in ONE day! I guess I'm trying to make up for the boring last chapter! Anyway, this kind of gets the things moving forward! PLEASE review! It means a lot to me! I'm going to try hard to throw these chapters out here, because tomorrow I had a science project due, so I'll be working on that, and then Friday I'm going to six flags (YIPPEE) and then on Saturday, I leave for Europe! But guess what! For my birthday, (which is in 3 days), my parents got me an iPod Touch, so I will be able to work on this story more, even overseas! So, no worries! Anyway, that's enough chit-chat from me! I think you know that I LOVE reviews! Tell me what you think about this chapter! _

Every single second on the plane, I waited to die. I had seen the monsters around us in the airport, and I knew they were on the plane. I waited for the airplane to blow up; I waited for a dragon to burn me into a charred piece of toast. It was a haunting feeling that I wish I could have never felt. Something about being on the airplane made me nervous, as if I didn't belong there. I remembered my dream-Zeus trying to kill me as a child. This was the perfect opportunity for Zeus to kill me now. Yet, somehow, Nico and I landed in one piece.

Charleston had a small airport, and it was practically empty. We saw no monsters with yellow eyes.

"Nico…" I muttered under my breath, "Something is wrong."

Nico felt it too. "Let's just get to the museum and find what we need to find." Too bad it wasn't that easy. We were walking into the ancient museum that had been built in 1773, but we were stopped by a guard. This guard didn't have yellow eyes, but I could tell he wasn't here to give us a donut. His tongue slipped out of his mouth in a fork. We took a step back.

"Um, Nico!" I cried out when I saw Calyda standing by the entrance of the museum. She was here to take the clue before we could find it. "Nico, you fight this guy, I'll take on my mother." It was the only option. We couldn't let Calyda get away with another clue.

"Hi honny," Calyda said, casually as if this was a random run-in at Walmart. I scowled. "I can't let you find the next clue. As much as I want you to be a great goddess, I can't let you be more powerful than me."

I drew my sword, "I serve the gods that keep our world together. I won't help a goddess who is trying to destroy everything I know."

Calyda laughed, "Oh dear, you don't know anything." She didn't wait before she attacked. I was prepared. She had been the one to teach me how to fight in my dreams, so I knew her techniques. She was more of a physical fighter. She didn't use weapons, because her body was a weapon. She was faster and stronger than the average god, and that's saying _a lot. _She kicked me to the ground and swept my sword across the floor. I tried to punch her, but she was quick. I wasn't good at boxing or martial arts, so this wasn't exactly my best fight. I slapped her, but she just laughed. She punched my cheek, and I felt blood dripping from my mouth. She had me pinned down, and I didn't know what to do.

Then Nico jumped in. Turns out, he's a fabulous martial artist. He had fast reflexes, and he didn't need his sword. He actually dropped his sword on purpose, and used his fists to fight Calyda. She was surprised by this, and Nico caught her off guard. I ran and picked up Nico's sword. I felt power in my arms. This sword was no average sword.

Nico glanced my way and I could read his clear message, _get the clue. _I ran through the museum, not sure what I was looking for. There were random visitors, and I didn't know what they were seeing, but they didn't really notice the fight going on. There were paintings, quilts and little random items. None of them looked special.

I heard Nico and Calyda groaning as they hurt each other. I had to be quick. Nico was strong, but he got exhausted quickly. I had a feeling Calyda could fight a century without a sweat.

That's when I spotted the painting. It was a painting of a woman in a tight corset, and nothing really else. It was quite the scandalous painting. Then, I noticed the woman's face. Calyda. This really was the goddess Calyda, yet no one had realized her importance. I ripped the painting off the wall and a guard came running. I whirled around and knocked the guard out, with a frying pan that was on the display. _So, the movie Tangled was right. Frying pans really do work, _I thought with a smirk. I ripped the painting off and turned it over. There was writing in Greek.

_Go the misty way, plunge underground, where there is no day. Take the shattered lantern, and lead the way, to Calyda's quarters. There, the leading goddess will find her say, and a choice will be made. Lives will break, and hearts will cry, yet the two will stay together, never to be the same._

I rolled the painting up and stuck it in my jeans and ran downstairs. Nico was lying on the ground, Calyda nowhere in sign. Nico sat up, his face bloodied.

"We need to get out of here!" I said, "Calyda knows I have the clue. She'll be waiting at the next place."

Nico and I found a hotel, where we examined the painting.

"You are a good fighter," I told Nico. He didn't answer. "You've had a lot of experience. I'm glad you're with me, Nico. I wouldn't have it any other way." I was trying to make him feel better, because he seemed upset about something. It was as if Calyda had told him something that he hadn't wanted to hear.

I went to the kitchenette and wet a washcloth and wiped the blood off of Nico's cheek. He was barely speaking.

"Nico, tell me something about yourself," I whispered, "anything."

He looked into my eyes, "We should get the quest over with. I had no idea that this was a scavenger hunt until now."

"What did Calyda say?" I asked, becoming more firm. "Tell me." Nico looked away. Something was _very _wrong. "Nico, we are friends now, and we need to work together."

"You don't need to know right now," he replied. He smirked at me, "By the way, Rose, I'm glad you're my partner too."

It was a shock. I couldn't believe he said that! I stared at him in awe. Then I had a brilliant idea.

"Let's do what Calyda doesn't expect us to do. She probably thinks we'll go straight to the next place, as soon as possible. Let's surprise her and just take a while. Let's have fun!" I said with a smile. Nico growled.

"You are _such _a child," he sighed.

I was a child. Yet, I had a feeling every happy feeling was going to leave my body soon. After all, _lives will break and hearts will cry, yet the two will stay together, never to be the same._

I had a feeling, something was going to happen at the next place, and Nico and I were going to get hurt, and we would change. I didn't want that to happen, so I might as well appreciate how we were right now.

Then there was a knock on the hotel door. I opened the door to find a teenage boy with a mischievous grin standing there. "Hi! I'm a demigod, and I think you need my help."

I wanted to pass out. Fortunately, I'm not a pass-out person. I just stood there, observing this blonde, blue eyed boy. A happy, outgoing boy was exactly what I needed. I wanted Nico to have a blast before everything changed.

I didn't know that this boy was going to break hearts, save lives, and do something that I had never imagined.


	16. Monsters, monsters, go away

**A/N (I'd appreciate it if you read this): I'm posting this tonight, because it's just a filler chapter. This is going to show that the new character is a new addition to the team. PLEASE review! I might have something up tomorrow, but I'm not sure. If I get a few reviews, then I guarantee a new chapter. If not, then I'll post nada. So, REVIEW. Tell me what you like, and dislike. Tell me what you think of the new character! I know, there's not much to say about this chapter, just because its filler, but I like it. Anyway, reviews and have a SUPER night. **

It goes without saying that Nico did not trust the new boy. The boy introduced himself as Michael J. (My mind instantly went to Michael Jordan.) Let me tell you, he was very _handsome. _Sorry, I'm a girl and I can't stop my hormones from raging. I let him into the hotel and sat him down at the couch. Nico sat there, eying the boy.

"So, what's your story?" I asked, sitting down next to Michael.

He flashed his charming smile, "Well, I've grown up in Paris. I followed you from Paris, just so you know. A random river naiad told me that Nico was a demigod, so I decided to follow ya'll. You're on a quest, aren't you? Anyway, I'm a loner." This boy couldn't be a loner. He probably had like 4 girlfriends. He could be a male prostitute, if that exists. "So, tell me, what is this quest?"

Nico glared at Michael, "How do we know that we can trust you?" I didn't get why we _couldn't _trust him. Michael was a demigod, like us. Why would he want to hurt us, or sabotage our quest? I doubted there were good and bad demigods. We were all one and the same.

"Dude, I'm just a demigod who wants to help someone out," Michael answered, smiling at me. Gosh, he needed to stop smiling at me. He looked at the clue I had left on the coffee table. "The Cave of the winds?" he asked.

"Cave of the winds?" I asked, "How do you know that?"

"Well, it mentions wind and its underground!" he reasoned. I smiled at Nico, my look telling him _see, this boy is smart. We need him._

Nico rolled his eyes but sat up.

"You can come with us!" I squealed, "You can be our 3rd companion! It's perfect!" This was the third companion I had waited for!

"Hey, Rose, can I see you in the bedroom?" Nico gestured for me as he stood up. I smiled at Michael and followed Nico. He turned to me, "Rose, we just met this kid. He could be working for Calyda."

"Why would a demigod work for Calyda?" I asked, "We are all children of the gods, we wouldn't want them destroyed."

Nico let out a forced laugh, "You are so naïve."

"Nico, _trust me," _I pleaded. I looked into his eyes, "We _need _him. It's because of him that we know where to go. Let him stick around."

"You only like him because he's cute," Nico replied.

"Please, I'm not that shallow. You never know, maybe he can fight well," it sounded logical to me. "We need all the help we can get."

Nico realized that I was right, and we left the bedroom to find Michael watching TV. He was watching Psych, and I knew I approved of this boy. I got on the laptop while Nico and Michael did a stare down.

"There's a ghost tour downtown! We should go!" I squealed, "It'd be fun! Wait, are ghosts real?"

Nico rolled his eyes, "Rose, be reasonable. Ghosts are not-"

"Of course, ghosts are real!" Michael interrupted, with a smile splashed on his face. "Ghosts are killers, too. Are you sure you want to go on this ghost tour?"

I smiled and booked our tour. It was a nine o'clock tour, so we had a few hours to spare. We decided to walk to the market, and check out the cool things. Turns out, Michael is a goofy and excitable boy. Nico stayed quiet while Michael told me about his old life. Also, Michael has a lot of experience with monsters. That's why he was so ready when a monster attacked us at the market place.

The monster was a hellhound, and the size of a building.

"Look at the poodle!" one little boy squealed. Other people began to run. I pulled out my sword, and Nico was ready. Michael was ready as well, yet he didn't use weapons. He was like Calyda. He used his body as a weapon. I went for the hellhound's butt, while Nico went for the hellhound's middle. Michael jumped onto the hellhounds face, yet was immediately thrown off. I jumped onto the hellhound's back, and it bucked me off. I landed with a thump, and my shoulder throbbed. Michael was struggling up. He took a vase off a shelf and threw it at the hellhound. It hit it in the face, and the hellhound growled.

Nico went under the hellhound and stabbed it with his sword in its belly. The hellhound made a weird sound and jumped around. Nico was standing in a puddle of blood. Michael was throwing everything he could find. When the hellhound snarled, Michael was able to rip one of its teeth out. I flinched at the sound.

I ran up behind the hellhound and sliced at its foot. It whirled around, and nipped my shoulder and threw me across the market. I landed and couldn't move. It was too painful.

Nico was at my side, making me sip ambrosia. I felt the pain go away, yet I didn't have enough energy to move.

"How come we can't just have fun?" I muttered with exasperation.

"To demigods, this _is _fun," Nico replied with a smirk. "Will you be okay?"

I nodded and watched as Nico and Michael made a plan. That's when I realized we made a great team. We all worked together well. Nico distracted the hellhound as Michael pushed the hellhounds tooth into its heart. The hellhound disintegrated, and we were left in a destroyed market.

"Are you still up for the ghost tour?" Michael asked when he came over. He helped me to my feet.

"Um…" I looked at Nico's face and knew that he would hate me if I made him go on the tour. "I think we should just hit the hay and head for Cave of the Winds tomorrow."

It wasn't a choice I liked to make. I wanted to have fun, and I wanted to go to the ghost tour, but something told me not to. Nico wouldn't find it fun. That's when I realized that Nico's version of fun wasn't the same as mine. Michael and I had a similar view of fun, but Nico was now the odd one out.

We stopped by an ice cream shop and got ice cream, and then bought some popcorn. Michael and I turned on some scary movies, while Nico did research on his laptop. Something was keeping him quiet. He removed himself even more since Michael had gotten here. He didn't hate Michael anymore since the fight, which was good.

"We should all bundle down for the night," I finally said at 2am, after Final Destination 4. I was freaked out from the movie, and stuffed from all of the popcorn and ice cream. "We'll leave tomorrow afternoon."

It was 4am when I woke up to the smell of fire.


	17. Caves can be cool if you dont die in 1

_Keep Michael? Get rid of Michael? Like? Dislike? I would appreciate REVIEWS, please. I know Michael was introduced very quickly, but I'm trying to keep it realistic. Trust me, when a random demigod bangs on your door, it's now a slow introduction, and you aren't going to know everything about him right away. Plus, if you were a demigod and needed help, you'd take what you get. So, please review and tell me what you think. This chapter is just to get things going! _

This wasn't ordinary fire. Of course not, that would be too easy. This was blue, god fire. A god had set our hotel room on fire, and we were all going to die. Well, that's what I thought. Michael had slept on the couch, because he was nice enough to insist that Nico take the other twin bed. I found this to be a very kind gesture. Anyway, the fire was everywhere. It was on the walls, the floor and the ceiling. The only thing that wasn't touched by fire was the beds and the couch. I threw at Nico and it hit his head. He didn't move. God, he slept like the dead. I would have laughed at the irony.

"MICHAEL!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"YEAH!" he yelled back, "I DON'T HAVE A PLAN."

_I don't either, _I thought to myself. I needed to wake Nico. Yet, I didn't know how.

"PRAY TO YOUR PARENT!" I called to Michael. I had the laptop at the end of the bed, so I took a chance and threw it at Nico. It hit his head and he jerked up.

He cursed in Greek, "God, Rose." Then he looked around and realized our little problem. "Ah, man." His eyes swept across the room, trying to find an escape. The window was the only thing we could see, but it was far away.

Nico touched the floor with his finger and he immediately pulled back with a burnt finger. I made a sympathetic face and then realized we were really done for.

"HEY GUYS, I GOT A PLAN!" Michael yelled.

"Actually…" Nico said, mostly to himself. He pulled out a whistle and put it to his mouth. No sound came out, yet something felt different. That's when a hellhound appeared in the bedroom. I couldn't find the energy or the voice to scream. Nico was very calm, "Hey, Mrs. O'Leary, can you get us out?" So, this hellhound was our friend. Go figure, the son of Hades being best friends with a hellhound.

"Climb on," Nico said as he jumped onto the hellhound's back. I hesitantly jumped on, and the dog barged into the 'living area' of the hotel. Michael's eyes went wide, but he didn't hesitate to jump on.

"This is so cool," Michael breathed.

"Nico! Our stuff," I realized, as I saw the backpack in the corner of the room, on fire.

"We'll survive," Nico said with confidence and Mrs. O'Leary jumped out of the window, and landed in a dark ally. We slipped off of the hellhound, and didn't stop walking until we found a car to hot wire. This time was a giant Ford F-150, and I didn't complain. Michael insisted on driving. We didn't have any money for airplane tickets.

"How are we going to get money? We need drachma! Now, we don't even have ambrosia! What if we get hurt?" I moaned in the backseat. Michael was blasting Kesha, which hurt my head. I was more of the _real music _type of girl.

"Calm down, honey," Michael teased, "we can stop by a personal friend of mine by the cave of winds."

Nico glanced back at me, a doubtful look in his eyes. I shrugged. Michael's plan sounded good to me. I fell asleep, and woke up when we stopped in front of a small house. Michael told us to stay there as he jumped out and went inside the house.

"You have to admit he's cool," I spoke up as Nico turned off the obnoxious music. "He's helpful."

Nico didn't have anything to say.

"You never know, he could rub off on you," I added.

"Kill me now," he muttered. "There's something wrong with him."

"He's like me," I stated, "He's fun loving, outgoing and-"

"Don't you find it strange that he appeared in our hotel room so suddenly? Plus, he followed us from Paris," Nico said, as he switched the radio station to heavy metal.

"Can't we drop this? We are demigods, so everything is strange," I snapped back. Nico didn't say anything, "Tell me what Calyda told you."

"You'll find out eventually," he replied shortly. I sighed.

"Did she tell you something bad? Maybe something good? Did she tell you how this quest is going to end? Did she threaten you?" the questions spilled out of me. Nico scowled.

He didn't respond because Michael came out with a backpack swung over his shoulder. He jumped into the Ford, and started the truck with a rumble. We decided to do a Cave of the Winds tour at night, so we could easily sneak off.

We had our flashlights ready when we entered the cave. It was super chilly and a lot darker than I had expected. I hadn't expected pitch black. When the tour guide led us down a ladder, we moved away from the group.

Nico swept the flashlight across the walls. There were little Greek symbols that were leading us down.

"This would be a great time to play hide and seek," Michael spoke up, his voice bouncing off the walls. He popped in front of me, "BOO!"

I smiled at him, but didn't flinch. I wasn't in a very playful mood. I just wanted to get out of this dark enclosure.

_Squeak, _it sounded like a door being opened.

"The last time I checked, there aren't doors in old caves," Michael spoke up.

_SLAM, _the sound of a door being slammed shut. I jumped a little and flashed my flashlight all around.

Then there was the sound of nails sliding down chalkboard. I gritted my teeth. "Let's get out of here," I muttered, shoving on Michael.

"Whoa, Lassie. We aren't leaving without the next clue," Michael said, "hey look, there's a crawl space right there. I bet it leads somewhere." He dropped to all fours and Nico and I followed him. We were crawling for what seemed like forever when the tunnel opened up and we stood up. There were three tunnels.

"This was not what I was expecting," I muttered. That's when the sound of wind swished around. It sounded like a hurricane pushing on the walls of a weak building. "Cave of the winds. It fits."


	18. I'm awhat?

_Guess what, guys. I'm SICK. Guess what? I leave to Europe in two days. So, I better get better soon. Oh, and this might not be too good, because I'm rushing so I can get to my science project. As much as I love biology, I don't like homework. Anyway, there's a twist at the end, so tell me if you suspected it. I've been hinting at it for a while, so let's see what you guys think! REVIEWS if you would like another chapter! Tell me what I'm missing in my story! _

"Split up," Nico said, "Rose, take the middle tunnel. Michael should take the left one and I'll take the right. We should stay in earshot. Keep talking so we don't lose each other." It sounded like a plan. We all walked into our desired tunnels.

I walked into the tunnel and then turned around. I didn't see where I had come in. I looked all around. I was in a cave without any entrance or exit. _How is this possible? All I did was step inside a tunnel, and now I'm lost! _

"NICO!" I cried out, "MICHAEL!"

"I can't find my way out!" Michael called out.

"Same here!" Nico added in. We were all trapped in separate chambers, with no escape. That's when I saw that there was a small leak, and water was rushing in.

"There's water!" We all said at the same time. The water was rushing in fast. Before I knew it, it was up to my knees.

"How did we get in these places, yet there's no way out?" I asked.

"It's a trick!" Michael guessed, "There has to be an exit somewhere, but it's covered! Maybe there is strong mist and we can't see through it!"

"What's the mist?" I asked. Michael took a few seconds to explain. By this time, the water was up to my waist. "How much water is in your chambers?"

"It's up to my waist!" Nico and Michael answered.

That's when I started to panic. I was going to drown along with Nico and Michael. "I need a way out!" I didn't want to die. I wanted to have fun, kiss a boy, and go to a wild party. I wanted to help the gods and save someone's life. Dying was not an option. I pressed my hands all over the walls, trying to find anything that moved.

There may be gods, but there wasn't _magic. _There had to be a way out. I looked at the ceiling with my flashlight. Nothing. That's when I started to cry. I know, I know. I'm usually a strong girl who can handle anything, but I was stressed and about to die.

"Michael?" I called out, "It was great meeting you!"

"Rose!" Nico hissed through the wall, "You aren't going to die." I had never heard him so fierce before. "Just calm down and think this through!" He was comforting me, and it surprised me. Maybe Nico wasn't the badass he pretended to be. There was more to him. I couldn't believe that I had just come up with that. Nico was probably softer and kinder than he let on. I sighed with frustration. I should have seen this sooner.

The water was up to my neck. "There's nothing we can do," I whispered, mostly to myself.

"Don't give up," Nico insisted. It was funny how the usually negative one was now positive. I could hear Michael swishing around in the water. I closed my eyes. This was my mother's fault. _Curse you, Calyda_. The water was to my neck. I became desperate when my nose was touching the top of the cave. That's when I was pulled under the water. I couldn't breathe and the chamber was full of water.

I _wish I could strike you with lightning,_ I thought to Calyda. Just as I thought that, there was a flash of light and the sound of breaking rocks. The next thing I knew, I was coughing up water. The rock wall had broken and I had been pushed into an empty cave.

I didn't waste anytime standing up and racing over to the broken wall. Michael and Nico were still stuck in their separate chambers.

"Michael? Nico?" There was no answer. This wasn't possible! They weren't supposed to die! They were young and had potential! I slammed on the cave's wall, yet it was as if there was nothing behind there. These tunnels had been a trap.

That's when I blacked out.

_

"I hate you!" I was staring into the yellow eyes of Calyda.

"Oh please, calm down," she answered. She was dressed in a simple black dress, with red high heels as if she was going on a date. Oh, please. I cursed myself because I sounded like Calyda. "Nico and Michael are fine. I'm not ready to kill them. Yet." She smiled at me with coldness. "You have a lot to figure out."

"Why did you almost kill me?" I demanded to know. She wanted me dead, so why hadn't she killed me yet?

"Your father was about to find you and I couldn't let that happen," Calyda explained as if that made sense. My father? He was obviously mortal, since I was a demigod. I couldn't see how my father had anything to do with this. I had never even met my father.

"What's next?" I asked.

Calyda shrugged as she pulled on her perfect hair. "Find the clue and get a move on. This isn't over yet. I still need you for a few things." She began to fade and then she whispered, "Honey, your father has everything to do with this."

I woke up to find Nico and Michael next to me. I sighed with relief. They were alive. If I was an emotional female, I would have sobbed with relief. Instead, I squealed and we did a group hug. I stood up and squeezed the water out of my clothes, "Let's find the clue." I looked around and then saw something on the wall. I picked up the flashlight which was surprisingly still working even though it was wet.

"How do you think she does that?" Michael whispered to Nico.

"I do what?" I asked, in a tone that said "you are a great whisperer...not."

" You almost died and yet you act like you just went to a party," Michael answered.

"She does it every time," Nico told Michael as if I wasn't there.

I shrugged. I guess I realized there were things more important than my life. There wasn't time to dwell on things like dying. I didn't answer them and instead, I examined the wall. There were drawings everywhere. Drawings of fire and death. Nico and Michael examined them as well. I took this time to kind of look Michael over. He was nice and very cute and had a past of monsters and fighting. Yet, I didn't know anything of his family.

"So, Michael. Who is your godly parent?" I asked.

He hesitated to answer. I frowned at this. What did Michael have to hide?

"Zeus," he answered. His tone was questionable, as if he was lying or didn't want me to know that. He instantly turned it into a joke, "can't you tell who I got my good looks from?" he winked at me.

"Are you sure you aren't the son of Aphrodite?" I questioned as a joke, "it seems as if your scared of breaking a nail. Would you like some lipgloss?"

"Hey!" he protested with a smile.

"Look at this," Nico pointed out. Leave it to Nico to ruin a fun moment. Michael and I glanced at what Nico was looking at. It looked like drawings of a god in front of...the white house.

"I've always wanted to meet the president," I commented.

"Someday I'll be the president," Michael said with joking cockiness, "who wouldn't vote for me?"

I laughed and then realized I didn't know how to get out of here.

"This way," Nico gestured for us to follow him.

"What was your life like in Paris?" i asked Michael as we crawled through the tunnel.

"Pretty boring," he admitted, "I lived an average life with my mom. Fought a few monsters...every day. I went to school but I was too weird for mortals." Nico and I could relate. It was nice getting to know Michael and I loved having another teammate.

"You don't sound French," I commented. "That's odd." Michael didn't answer but I let it drop. I knew that Nico wasn't going to forget it. Finally, we were out of the caves and we slept in the truck. I had haunting dreams that are too scary to describe. I was always being chased by someone.

I was shaken awake by Nico but it was still dark. Michael was still asleep. He motioned for me to get out of the truck.

"If this is a quest meeting, Michael should be part of it," I commented.

I waited for him to say "we can't trust Michael" but instead, he said, "I was just going to ask you to drive. I can direct you to D.C." I frowned at him. He wasn't going to mention Michael? Something was not right with him. I tiredly agreed. Of course, our ride to D.C couldn't go smoothly.

Before I started to drive, I had a dream.

Calyda was on the throne with Zeus by her side. They were in the middle of a heated argument. The other gods quietly watched, their eyes narrowed. None of them liked this.

"We must put her somewhere safe," Calyda insisted.

"She is safe by our side," Zeus answered, clenching his fist.

"She can be by our side soon," Calyda was smiling to herself on the inside. She had a plan to keep their daughter to herself. Zeus didn't know that she wasn't a loyal wife, even though his brothers and sisters suspected it.

"This should have never happened," Zeus sighed. He loved Calyda with a strong passion, and he knew she loved him too.

Of course, Calyda didn't love him. She didn't love anyone. She had seduced him and now they had the most powerful child that existed.

In the middle of the room was a cradle that held Zeus's and Calyda's child.

The child was me.

I woke up with a cold sweat.

"Oh my god, I'm a..." I muttered under my breath. Nico and Michael were asleep and they couldn't hear me. Thank gods, because they couldn't find out. It all made sense. I was a child of the two most powerful gods.

That made me a...

goddess.


	19. Forget monsters, I'm fighting Nico

_This is mostly a drama chapter, with a bit of stuff between Rose and Nico…Hmmm(: A little fight with a god, as well. ANWAY, please review! I might be able to post another chapter tonight, but it depends on feedback! I leave tomorrow for Europe, and I am STILL sick. It's not that I'm complaining. I actually got to miss the last week of school, so I'm pretty happy about that. Anyway, do you guys have any fun summer plans? ENJOY_

Michael switched seats with me, and fell asleep in the back while I drove in silence.

"Is every quest this fun?" I asked Nico, hoping to make conversation. "Is there a chance we'll run into unicorns?"

"We're demigods, not wizards. This isn't Harry Potter," Nico answered shortly. "This is my first quest."

If I had tea, I would have spit it out. "Then how are you so experienced?' Nico looked out the window. "Nico…"

"I go around helping other demigods survive," Nico answered finally, "My experience comes from tough times."

I smiled at him with sympathy. This kid had a hard life, and I had a feeling I would never really understand exactly how hard.

"What was your sister like?" It was a personal question, and I didn't expect Nico to answer. "You should answer. We're a team now."

"My sister was kind and strong," Nico answered. I glanced over at him, and instead of seeing the Nico I saw all the time, it was as if he was a little kid. He was remembering his sister, and it caused a sad look in his eyes. The strong Nico looked really vulnerable right now.

"How did she die?"

"On a quest with Percy Jackson," Nico's voice didn't sound bitter like I thought it would. He just sounded like he was regretting something.

"Oh," I quieted for a second as I focused on the road. "Do you like pie?" It was the first thing that had come to mind.

"Love it," Nico rolled his eyes. He switched on the radio to screamo. I flinched and changed the station. Nico changed it back. I switched it to country, and Nico instantly turned it.

"I drive, I control radio," I snapped. I was controlling when it came to my music. I reached for the radio but Nico smacked my hand away. I glared at him. "I hate scream music, and I'm just you can tolerate Taylor Swift." Taylor Swift was like my idol, and my favorite song by her was playing on the country station. I quickly pressed the button and sang along to her.

Nico slumped down in his seat, "At least turn it down." He turned the volume so low, I could barely hear it. I turned it up, and he turned it down. I tried blasting it, but it didn't work.

"You either get control of the radio station, or the volume. Not both," Nico answered with a smirk.

"You are _so _difficult," I snapped.

"You are _such _a control freak," Nico said, mocking me. I made a face at him. "You just have to get your way."

"Oh please, Mr. _do-everything-I-say-because-I'm-right," _I replied. I was teasing him, but it was half true.

"Well whatever, Miss _I-don't-take-anything-serious-because-I-like-unicorns," _Nico snapped. He was being dead serious.

My jaw dropped. How could he say that? "Well excuse me, but I'm trying to make the best of this awful situation."

"You sure aren't doing it the right way," he replied, "all you want to do is party and hook up with

"That is _so not true," _I snapped, "I'm not you, Nico! I can't handle all of this stuff, and act like everything is going to work out, like you do! I'm _scared_ and I'm just trying to keep myself happy." That was me spilling out my heart. "I want _you _to be happy, too! I don't want this quest to ruin us. I don't want to turn into you, where you're all serious and grumpy."

I had caught Nico off guard. He really didn't know what to say. I huffed, and realized I had been speeding up. I slowed down to match the speed limit. I was pretty upset, with Nico and myself. Here we were, trying to survive, and we were arguing.

I had a feeling Nico was going to hold a grudge for this. It seemed like he held grudges a lot. Michael finally woke up, but I had the radio blasting and Nico wasn't speaking in. He had woken up to a hostile environment.

Michael wasted no time pointing this out, "Did you two lovebirds have a fight?" It took all my power not to slam on my breaks. "Did you two finally break up?"

"_Lovebirds?" _I gaped.

"_Break up? We were never together," _Nico snapped.

Michael instantly shut his mouth and it became awkward. I pulled over at a gas station for gas and to go to the bathroom.

"Wait here," I told them and ran inside to go pee. I was only in there for a minute, and when I came out, the truck had exploded and there was a god standing there, laughing. Nico and Michael had their swords out, their eyes angry.

_I'm gone for one minute, and this is what happens, _I thought to myself as I pulled out my sword and stood next to Michael.

"Ah, Rose, I'm your Uncle, Ares," Ares said. I wasn't surprised. He wore a black leather jacket, even though it was summer. He had a bandana on his head, and his jeans were black. His sunglasses screamed "motorcyclist." I spotted his giant Harley motorcycle in the corner of my eye. "I'm here to take you to Zeus."

"No," I refused, "I have a quest to complete, and Zeus wants to _kill _me."

"You dare say no to me?" Ares said, clenching his fists.

I smirked, "I do dare say no." Ares didn't scare me. I was definitely not going to let him take me to Zeus. Zeus had tried to kill me as a child, and I was sure he had been the one to set fire to my hotel room. Zeus wanted me dead, and I wasn't going to step foot in his trap, or whatever.

Ares attacked, and I blocked his fist with my sword.

"It's three against one," I snapped, "you are going down." He just laughed. Nico tried to attack him from behind, but Ares whirled around and blocked the sword. Nico was thrown against the cement. Michael attacked Ares from the side, but he just side stepped and watched Michael fall to the ground. Ares was easily taking us down like were just children.

I glared at him and took a swipe at his face, but he easily blocked it. He did a little trick and my sword flew from my arms. _Crap, I'm screwed, _I thought. Ares punched my cheek, but I stood my ground.

"Just come with me," Ares persisted.

I shook my head, "No thank you." I did a round house kick and Ares was caught off guard. He held his head in pain. His eyes flashed with fire, and I knew I was seriously screwed. He ran towards me and pushed me so hard, I flew back and hit the gas station. I heard something crack and I held in the cry of pain. I felt my head and realized my head was bleeding.

Nico ran towards me, and helped me to my feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm sorry for arguing with you in the car," I spat out, because it hurt to speak. I could tell Nico was trying hard to forgive me.

"That doesn't matter right now," Nico snapped. He put his hand on my head, "You're bleeding badly. Get inside the gas station and clean up. Michael and I will be fine." I was surprised by his kindness. I would have thought he would say, "Suck it up." Yet, he didn't.

"No, I'm helping," I replied, surprising myself. I was stronger than I thought. "Come on," I grabbed Nico's arm and we ran out to help Michael. I picked up my sword and stood in my fighting position.

Nico cut Ares arm, and he had a huge gash in his leg as well. Finally, Ares just sighed and walked away.

"Hey, get back here! You-" I yelled, ready to chase him.

Nico stopped me, "Let him go." That's when I realized Nico was hurt as well. He was limping. Michael had cuts all over his gorgeous face. I could feel the dried blood in my hair.

We were in the middle of nowhere, so we couldn't get a hotel and clean up. We just walked into the gas station as if nothing had happened. I stuck my head in the sink and washed my hair. There was a gash in my head and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I cursed in Greek. This wasn't exactly my kind of fun party.

Nico walked in. Yes, he walked into the girl's bathroom. Yet, I'm a _goddess _and he's a demigod, so it didn't really matter to us. We had better things to think about than who was in the bathroom. He had a First Aid kit.

I sat on the counter while Nico took out a bandage.

"It's going to hurt when you take this off. It'll take out like half of your hair," Nico commented as he wrapped the bandage around my head.

"This is awful," I moaned, as I looked in the mirror. I now had a bandage around my head with blood soaked hair.

"Consider it a learning experience," Nico shrugged.

"How's your leg?" I asked.

"Fine," he stated simply. "I'll work on it when we get to a hotel tonight." He patted my head, "You're good."

"Thank you," I smiled at him. I didn't realize he could be so gentle. Then again, he probably did this all the time when he was helping other demigods. I bet he had met lots of girls and helped them. "We should get going."

Michael walked in, "I just called for a taxi. It'll be here in like, 5 hours."

"Are you kidding?" I asked my eyes wide.

Michael gave me _what do you think _look. He wasn't kidding. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere for 5 hours.

"I have a better idea," Nico said, "We can shadow travel."

"Can you do that with two people? Isn't that draining?" I asked, worried.

Nico didn't say anything, because we were gone.


	20. Things take a sudden turn

_Hey guys(: I just got a review that says I need to change it up, so guess what! Here's something different. I hope my story hasn't been boring/: So, this is a risky chapter, so tell me what you think! REVIEWS!_

It was before bed when I realized something.

"I need to find Ares so he can take me to Zeus," I blurted out while we sat on the couch eating pizza.

Michael practically spat out his pizza but Nico barely reacted. He wasn't shocked by my statement. He probably saw this coming from a mile away.

"I was foolish to say no to Ares. I _need _to see Zeus," I explained. I had so many questions to ask. After all, Zeus was my father.

"That's crazy, Rose!" Michael replied, his eyes wide. This was crazy; there was no doubt about that.

"It's what needs to happen!" I snapped back, "Something tells me that I need to go."

Michael and I argued for 5 minutes, and then Nico suddenly spoke up, "You can't go, Rose. It's endangering your life, plus it's not part of this quest."

I glared at him. I was furious with them. They were holding me back! Who did they think they are, telling me what I can't do? I stood up and walked into the bedroom and pretended to sleep. Since, they wouldn't let me do what I wanted to do; I did something anyone would do.

I went anyway.

It was 2 in the morning, and I got up and put a flashlight, food and ambrosia in my bag. I would check out Mount Olympus first. I slipped out of the hotel and hotwired a car.

It wasn't until like 3 hours later when I realized this was _crazy. I _was crazy. _I should go back. No, I can't. I need to turn around. Why the heck would I go back? _I was having a battle with myself.

I made it to the Empire State Building by midmorning, and I was exhausted. I pushed away any weak feelings and went to the receptionist.

"Can I help you?" the man was a lazy looking guy who hadn't bothered to brush his hair.

"500th floor," I felt weird stating it out loud.

The guy raised his eyebrow. Great, he was going to think I was insane. I couldn't give up though.

"Like now, unless you want to get zapped by Zeus," I snapped, my eyes flashing. I don't know what freaked the guy out, but he hurriedly told me where to go. I smiled sweetly and went to the elevator. I took a deep breath. I was about to go to Mount Olympus.

_I'm going to die, _I told myself. The elevator went slowly up. "Gods, I won't get to the 500th floor by the time I'm 50."

Just as I finished saying that, the elevator doors slid open. I'd like to tell you that I handled the sight calmly. I didn't. I squealed with happiness and almost blacked out from shock. I was overwhelmed. Mount Olympus was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. I was on the side of a black mountain with clouds surrounding me. There were small Greek buildings that surrounded me. There were small gardens and marble paths up to the giant coliseum at the peak of the mountain. I raced up the marble stairs and pushed open the giant doors.

I bet you expect me to say there was _no one _there. Nah, I was lucky. Too lucky. _All of the gods were sitting in their seats. _Yeah. I had walked into a giant room with giant gods. These gods were like 20 feet tall, and I felt like a miniature mushroom in a field. I spotted Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite and even Athena.

I almost stopped breathing. That's when I laid eyes on Zeus, and his vibe of authority washed over me. He had a frown on his face, and his eyes were watering. He was upset about something.

All their eyes turned to me. That's when I felt like Humpback of Notre Dame in the spotlight. Trust me, it wasn't a pretty feeling. I felt as if I was going to get pulverized. I just wanted someone to step on me with their giant foot.

"How dare you come here without invitation?" Hermes asked.

"Ares-" my voice was drowned out. I had to speak up. "ARES INVITED ME." It was a half lie. I mean, Ares hadn't exactly _invited _me.

"Invited, my ass," Ares huffed under his breath. I made a face at him. That's when I realized that probably wasn't smart. I would have to tune down my sass to survive this. They may be my family...but this wasn't exactly a normal, happy family.

"I came to see…my father," I blurted out the last part. It was really my first time admitting that he was my father. I looked up to see Zeus's face. He had stayed expressionless. "Well, Zeus?"

Zeus looked around and everyone took the message. The gods began to leave, and soon enough it was just Zeus and me alone.

"You were foolish to come here," his face had darkened. I bit my tongue. Lesson for today: speak only when I have something important to say. This wasn't the time for small talk. "You've figured out that you aren't a demigod, and that's not safe. Calyda will do everything in her power to kill you."

_I won't let her kill me, _I thought to myself. I wanted to say it, but I knew better.

"Calyda is strong," Zeus said, mostly to himself. "You just may be stronger, with the right training. Rose, I'm assuming that you know about the war between Calyda and the other gods. You are the key." I waited for him to explain. "Oh please, Rose. Stop trying to be someone you're not. Voice your opinion." That didn't sound like a god. Zeus was talking as if he was really my father, and not just a god.

"Why am I the key?" I asked, but I already knew the answer. I had Calyda's blood in me, and I had a god's blood in me. My parents were fighting each other, and I was stuck in the middle. I was also the most powerful one of them all, so if I chose to fight for Calyda, the gods would be destroyed. If I fought with the gods, then Calyda would be destroyed.

Zeus didn't bother to answer my question. He could see me working out myself. "You are important, Rose. This quest is important, yet it isn't time for you to complete it yet."

My mind went to Nico and Michael and I wondered if they had headed to Washington D.C. I smiled at Zeus.

"Are you going to fight with us?" Zeus asked.

"Of course," I didn't even hesitate. I knew I wanted to fight for the gods that held the world together. If the gods fell, then the world would fall apart.

"Then I have a favor to ask, daughter," Zeus eyes sparkled when he said this, as if he had waited years for this.

"Anything," I wanted to prove to my father that I was a good daughter. He was expecting a lot, and I wanted to meet the expectations. I had to do whatever he said.

"Stay here on Mount Olympus and let the gods train you," Zeus said. "Don't go back yet. Let me train you, so you can survive and win this war."

_Stay on Mount Olympus and be trained?_

_ Don't go back?_

I opened my mouth to voice my answer.

_Like? Dislike? Do you think this is taking a good turn? Should she say yes or no? What are Nico and Michael doing? REVIEW and you might get the answer tonight(:_


	21. I change

HEEYYY guys! Long time no see! I returned from my trip late last night, and I'm all excited to show you what I have written! Now, as summer has begun, I have lots to do! Therefore, I might be slow updating and the only way to get me to update quickly is to review my story! I write this story for the enjoyment of Nico fans! So, if no one is enjoying this, than I shouldn't be writing this! THEREFORE, please review! It means the world to me! The more reviews, the quicker I will update! Anyway, I came up with some crazy stuff on the cruise, so I am hoping you will like what happens! I'm so excited to get these chapters out on this site, but I want reviews! Oh, and soo…I see fanfic has changed their structure, and its SO confusing me! I haven't used a computer in 3 weeks, so I'm so not used to it! Anyway, I have a few twist and turns in store for you! You will just have to survive a filler chapter!

STORY BEGIN

"Hell yeah," I said without thinking. At that time, I didn't think of Nico and Michael, the quest or camp half blood. In my mind, it was about becoming stronger, beating my mother, and pleasing my father.  
>Zeus' eyes gleamed with pride. My heart burned with satisfaction. "Great answer. I'm hoping you have all my power and Calyda's as well."<br>"What can Calyda do?" I asked, bewildered. There was so much going through my brain, I thought I would explode.  
>"You'll see," he replied. Apollo came and settled me into my living quarters. I had a god sized bed (think king sized times 6.) I would never get used to such ambiance. Aphrodite delivered a satin dress that made me look like a roman princess. A goddess.<br>There wasn't a family dinner. A meal was sent to me. It wasn't until I laid onto my bed that I realized what I'd done. I wasn't allowed to go to earth. I was fighting in a war, and I had delayed a quest. I'd left Michael and...Nico.

_Ah crap, I thought as i fell into a deep slumber.___

_ "It's broken!" Michael yelled as he pressed a bunch of buttons. Michael and Nico were in a control room with a bunch of gadgets and levers. Nico wore an aviator's hat with glasses. He was...sexy. Forget I thought that. There were lots of flashing lights and an alarm was sounded.__  
><em>_ I figured they were in an airship, and they were passing over a volcano.__  
><em>_ "The engine is failing!" Nico stated, his voice stressed but he still seemed calm on the outside.__  
><em>_ "The pipes are bursting!" Michael noted.__  
><em>_ "My blood is boiling," Nico added. He had a dry sense of humor as he typed codes into the computer.__  
><em>_ He was going to die.___

_ The ship was drooping into the hot lava. Neither Nico nor Michael knew what to do, so they talked.__  
><em>_ Gods, boys have an odd way of expressing fear. They were sweating and choking for air, yet they spoke calmly.__  
><em>_ "You're smart, Nico! No wonder Rose likes you," Michael thought out loud.__  
><em>_ "We're about to die, and a girl comes to mind," I liked how focused and ambitious Nico was, unlike the other silly hormonal boys.__  
><em>_ Nico's eyes flashed with an idea. "That's it!" I had never seen him so sure of himself, or so excited. He had sight of surviving. He ran for the boiling room, praying for time. The heat was unbearable, and lava was soaking up the oxygen. They couldn't breathe now.__  
><em>_ "I can fix this," Nico told himself as he slipped into the boiler room.__  
><em>_ He didn't fix it.__  
><em>_ He didn't have time.__  
><em>_ The whole space ship overloaded and exploded.__  
><em>_ Nico and Michael were dead.__  
><em>  
>I woke up sweating and tears streamed down my face. I got out of bed and tugged a brush through my hair. I had red eyes and I was shaking. My brain hadn't even realized how horrific this event was. My companions were dead.<br>That's when I decided to suck it up. The gods had watched several people die and stayed strong. I was a goddess and I could do the same. I couldn't wallow in sorrow. I did my makeup and dressed and put a smile on my face and went to training.

Every night, I dreamed of Nico. These were really dreams, not visions. The first night, I dreamed that Nico took me rock climbing. During the whole dream, I tried to pry him open, yet he barely spoke. Just as he was about to tell me something important, his rope snapped, and he fell to the ground, lifeless.  
>I woke, terrified. Every night it went like that. We would explore a jungle, or cruise the Nile. I would learn little things about him, yet whenever he tried to tell me something, he would die. He would get eaten by an alligator, or drown in the river. I relived the fact that Nico died every single night.<br>Every day was the same. I woke from my dreams, ate breakfast with my father, and then trained for hours. The dreams stopped. I began to only dream of people who needed help-but I never saw Nico or Michael's face.  
>Zeus taught me to direct lightning, burn with thunder, and taught me everything Calyda could do. Soon enough, I could heal, persuade, run faster than a vampire, and be stronger than the hulk.<p>

I was powerful.

The real world escaped me, and it was like I was in a bubble where nothing else existed. I only believed I was doing what was right.

Everything was great.

Well until Nico appeared outside my bedroom door.

Nico was bleeding and his body was bruised. He was pale and he hadn't slept in weeks. He looked like he belonged in the underworld.

"You're wearing a dress," Nico pointed out.  
>"You look older," I commented. It was true. His eyes had aged a hundred years. I wondered what all had happened while I was gone. All the pain he had suffered was all because of me. I felt kind of bad.<br>"Nico, I'm so so sorry," I apologized, opening my arms for a hug. Something sounded hallow with my words, even to me.  
>He stepped away, "This isn't a personal visit, Rose. This is a business trip. We have left the prophecy unfulfilled. We are cursed until the prophecy is finished. We have one week and then we are all dead. Even you."<p>

"Not me," I denied, "I am a goddess."  
>Nico's eyes turned to stone, "So you are invincible."<br>"Well, yeah." It was true. Even Artemis could not beat me in a fight.  
>Nico sucked in air. "You gods think you are all that! I tell you that the world is going to end, and if we don't complete the prophecy, we will all die. You say 'not me!' Selfish, much?" He was mocking me, and upset.<br>I snarled at him, "Don't ever accuse me of being selfish! I have bigger things to deal with!"  
>"Bigger than the biggest war? Calyda isn't attacking the way we thought she would!"<br>"I know." I didn't know.  
>"So now you know it all?" Nico growled.<br>"Why hello!" Aphrodite was next to join this party."Rose, your hair isn't done! That's unacceptable!"  
>"It is, m'lady. Nico came uninvited so I was telling him to leave." I had tried to persuade Nico to leave, and I even tried to use my powers. It was as if Nico was immune to me.<br>"Rose! You have to come to earth with me and finish the quest! We all die! I die!"  
>"I don't care if you die." I smirked at him.<br>"Come with me."  
>"No."<br>"Michael's dying."  
>"Good, he was worthless," I didn't mean what I was saying. I wasn't thinking. I didn't know what I was doing!<br>"Who are you ?" Nico asked, exasperated. He looked in my eyes and emotions rushed back. I fought the feelings. A goddess didn't feel. A warrior didn't feel.  
>"I'm a goddess, and you are leaving."<br>"Rose! There is a traitor-"  
>I slammed my door.<p>

Ok, this is mostly for myself. I just wanted everything to be clear.

Plot of story-The goddess Calyda is seeking power and destroying everyone else. Yet, she's not taking over in the way everyone expects her to.

Subplots-  
>1. Rose and Nico have a rocky relationship. They argue, they help each other and they are teammates. Yet, Nico is hiding something-something about the necklace, a secret about his father, and a secret about himself. They may have a hard time, but in the end, Rose will have to make a choice that will form their future together-or he dies.<p>

2. The prophecy must be completed. The quest will lead to an end that could save AND kill. Calyda cannot be beaten unless the prophecy is fulfilled. There is one week to complete the quest, or the world will end.

3. There is a traitor on Mount Olympus. There is a god that is secretly supporting Calyda. This god needs to be discovered and destroyed before the war. This god is training Rose and leading her to believe something that isn't true.

4. Calyda said something to Nico that disturbed him. What was it? And what side is Nico on? 


	22. I almost get killed by someone I love

**AUTHORS NOTE: VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT. TAKE A FEW SECONDS TO READ IT.**

_Hello! I'm excited for this chapter! I hope you are too! This one took me forever to write, but I like the outcome! This chapter is necessary for the story to move on! I have so much cool stuff planned for this story! _

_ Now, Rose is definitely acting not like herself, which is weird, right? There will be some answers, don't worry._

_ There is also a LOT of Nico and Rose bonding coming up in the coming chapters! I plan to turn up the romance a notch soon! So, look out for that! Whoops, I'm rambling, aren't I? If you want the next chapter soon, PLEASE Review! _

_ You know that I write this story for the enjoyment of others! There's no point of updating if no one is enjoying it! Remember the more reviews, the more updates! PLEASE tell your friends about this story! I like to get lots of traffic! I would like a bit more than 37 views per chapter…it's kind of pathetic compared to what I've done on quizilla and in the past on here! _

_ You don't need an account to review, so seriously, review! I don't care if all it says it "like it!" It's better than nothing! Anyway, enjoy!_

_ OH, and today I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean! I thought it was going to suck because of the 2__nd__ and 3__rd__, but it was REALLY good! SO, go see it!_

_Favorite story of today: Quality Time by Parcabeth forever 98 (it has Nico in it) You should be able to find it if you just go to Percy Jackson and the Olympians and put in Nico A. as a character! It's totally good, and EVERYONE should read it! You won't regret it! I'm reading it right now, and its fantastic! _

_ Favorite song of today: Light Up The Sky by Yellowcard. This song helped me write this chapter. Maybe it's just because the title makes me think of Zeus. _

_ Favorite food of today: Black Bean and Cheese Quesadilla. I ate this while writing this, and trust me, it really satisfies and inspires(:_

START.

Nico returned in my dreams. This time he didn't come as a friend, he came as a trainer. In my dreams, we would be in a dark forest, and he would train me. Not just physically, but mentally. He would fight me, and challenge me. He would give me riddles and put me in difficult situations. He pushed me, and it made me angry. All everyone ever did was push me. I was huffing and puffing and planning secret ways to kill Nico, and he could feel my anger surging.

"Your anger will control you," Nico explained to me as I ran through the forest. He ran next to me with ease. I wondered if Nico was this good in real life. "Use your anger to win. Control your anger and direct it. It could cloud your mind and manipulate you, unless you control it."  
>"This is pointless," I breathed with no energy.<p>

Nico suddenly stopped me, and faced me. His eyes flashed with determination. "What happened to the invincible goddess who doesn't need help?"

I frowned at him, "I am a full blood god!" That was the answer to everything. I was strong so I never needed help.

"Your weak," Nico seethed, "your a little girl who's too scared to do anything! You are hiding on mount Olympus so you don't have to face anything!"

"I'm stronger than you will ever be!"

Nico forced a laugh, "I'm not an insecure girl who couldn't survive a day on your own. You depend on the gods for everything."

"Lies," I hissed. What he was saying was untrue.

Nico smirked and suddenly I was in the middle of a battle field. _I was surrounded by young demigods who were clashing with creatures and titans. The sky was black and we were standing knee deep in mud. People were crying and yelling curses.__  
><em>_ Bombs fell. Lightning struck. People died. There weren't just demigods, there were mortals dressed in rags or in military uniforms. This was a world war.___

_ These were kids I had seen lazing around at camp. These were soldiers who didn't belong here.___

_ An explosion rocked the earth, and i fell to the ground. I looked up to the sky to see 3 gods laughing down at us. They were blowing everyone up with ease.___

_ One god was Calyda, the other was Zeus and then...me. We were batting down the demigods and mortals like flies as they tried to defend themselves. They all died.___

_ The gods weren't around anymore-they were gone. The demigods were left to fend for themselves.___

_ This was the future.__  
><em>  
>I didn't wake in my bed. I had fallen asleep in the kitchen while eating ice cream. The ice cream was now milk, and there was a red mark on my forehead from the counter top. I was so disorientated that I knocked my gold bowl to the floor and it shattered. I didn't bother to clean it up.<br>The image of Zeus, Calyda and me in the sky didn't leave my mind. I grabbed the nearest weapon, which was a sword and raised up the giant staircase to Zeus' room. He was traitor! I knew what my dream had meant! I ran to Zeus' quarters and threw his door open. Nothing was in my mind, and I felt nothing but anger.  
>Zeus was lying in bed, and appeared to be sleeping. I didn't try to be sneaky. I ran as fast as I could and jumped on his bed and raised my sword. Zeus reached his hand up and grabbed my sword. He sat up and his eyes glared into mine.<p>

"How could you betray your only family?" I cried, anger taking over my body. "Are you training me for the good of the world...or for the good of you and your secret lover?"  
>I tried to swipe my sword out of his hands. He was a traitor working with Calyda! He deserved to die. He had a firm grip on the sword. So, I used the moves Nico had taught me. I curled my fist and used several moves and shoved Zeus out of bed, and he dropped my sword.<p>

"Stop pretending, Zeus." I said almost every word while attacking Zeus, but he easily dodged my swings and he pushed me away. He stood up and lightning surrounded his hands. I didn't stop talking, "You and Calyda had a plan to take over since the start, and Hades knew it. He never supported Calyda, but you accused him so everyone would hate him. Since everyone hated him, no one listened when he said you supported her. So..."

Hades was the good guy.

Zeus shocked me with lightning and I crumbled to the ground. Every muscle in my body was screaming, but I jumped back up. My mind was rushing as I defended myself from Zeus' lightning. One strike hit my face, and I felt my flesh burn.

My mind whirred with thoughts as I pieced everything together. Nico knew the truth and was creating a plan with Hades to expose the truth. It all made sense. Calyda and Zeus were a team, and they wanted to take over everything.

I still talked as I tried to dodge Zeus' anger. "Better yet, you and Calyda want an army! You are going to wipe out all the demigods and all the weak mortals and start a stronger generation! You have plans to start a whole line of gods like me! It gets better, doesn't it? You and Calyda are going to mate with a few strong mortals so the demigods are strong as well! It's survival of the strong!" Zeus boiled with anger, but I was just as angry. I fought back as strong as he fought me. "I'm a pawn! You raised me to be a weapon!"  
>Zeus stopped attacking me for a second. I paused for a second to breathe, and wondered why he hesitated. Before I could finish my thought, Zeus took this time to throw lightning at me. It hit my chest and I fell to the ground, trembling.<p>

Zeus stood above me, "This secret is going to die with you."

He lowered his lightning rod, and aimed for my neck. I was going to die. I struggled but my body was numb. I felt its heat and its power surging through his rod, and its sparks flew onto my face. It was an inch away from my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut, but I didn't cry. Every tear was burned away from the electricity.

Then the door was thrown open and Aphrodite walked in. "Zeus, have you seen Rose...?" her voice trailed off when she spotted what was happening.

"Ah, Rose and I are just training," Zeus lied, as he lifted his lightning rod away from my face. These things usually only happened in the movies. In the movies, the damsel in distress is saved by the handsome hero, just a blink away from death. I never knew those things actually happened, but it happened to me. Except well, I wasn't exactly saved yet. I had to lay on the ground, in agony, and watch as Zeus deceived his family.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I tried to yell, but nothing left my mouth.

"Oh ok, because Nico is here," she said. 

I tried to kick and shout, but still my body didn't listen.

"Oh, tell him she's busy," Zeus stated. No. No. No.

"Nico is right behind me. He wants to talk to you," Aphrodite added. Zeus glanced down at me and then walked out of the room. He shut the door behind him. I heard Aphrodite walk away.

"Hey, Zeus. Where's Rose? She's not in her room," I could hear the fake sincerity in Nico's voice.

"You just missed her, Nico. She went with Apollo in his chariot. She will be back in a few days," Zeus lied smoothly.

"Nico! Nico!" I tried to yell, but my mouth wouldn't move.

"Oh ok," Nico said. "I think I won't be coming back again. When you see her, tell her to visit me, ok?"  
>"Don't go Nico!" I wanted to yell. If he left, all hope would be lost. If he left, we would never complete the prophecy and Nico would die. Everyone would die.<p>

That's when I realized I needed Nico. I needed help. The second I had left Nico, I had put myself in a stupid situation. I wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but with Nico, I was a bit shinier. I had become a goddess that only depended on myself, and that was what made me weak.

"Nico, I need you," I never thought I would say those words. But I did say them, and he wasn't there to hear them.  
>Pain seared through my body, but there was something stronger-determination. I tried to move my arms, but they were numb. Slowly, I forced myself to move my legs. I ignored the unbearable pain as I brought myself up. I stumbled into an upright position. I was soaked with sweat, and tears streamed down my face. I bent my knees and finally I stood. I almost collapsed but I leaned on the wall. Even now, I can't describe the excruciating pain, and I can't tell you how I made it. Every bone in my body felt as if it was on fire. It felt as if someone was chopping my stomach into slices. Somehow, I stepped six times and made it to the door.<p>

I used all my energy and threw the door open.

Nico was walking away.

"Don't go," I forced myself to say. I collapsed to the ground and Nico was soon by my side.

"I thought you were dead," he muttered. I remembered his gift. He could sense dying souls. "You really are something, Rose." His eyes turned to Zeus and I knew this wasn't going to end well.

Nico stood and grabbed his sword.

"Please, don't waste your time," Zeus stated, his arms crossed. He didn't dare look at me. I couldn't look at him without hate and sorrow filling me.  
>Nico swung a sudden punch, and hit Zeus right on the nose. I was impressed by his incredible speed and strength. Zeus immediately disappeared, and Nico and I were left alone.<br>Aphrodite appeared and her eyes widened.  
>"We have a problem," Nico stated. I felt myself fading. My vision blurred and I could barely hear them talking. I fell into a dreamless sleep.<p>

**REMEMBER, just a few seconds to review! **


	23. The ugly memories, the hideous truth

Author's Note: PLEASE read:

I can't even begin to describe how much I have LOVED your reviews! So, I wrote this chapter and decided to post it today, because you guys deserve it! And, probably because I'm not going to post tomorrow because I have a permit test and Master Drive

_So, this is a chapter dedicated to Rose's past. This is all about her, where she came from, and I hope you like what you find. Rose finds out what is REALLY going on in this war. All of this information is bringing out a bad side of her too-a killer side. _

_ So, this is what, chapter 23? I've classified the first 23 chapters as 'mystery.' You know, there were questions like 'what is Nico hiding?' 'what does the necklace do?' (that question will be answered either this chapter or the next, I can't remember.) and 'who is on who's side?' Well, most of those questions will be answered._

_ That way, the next several chapters will be drifting into a dark, violent phase. The coming chapters will be jam packed with action, explosions, and killing. Of course, there will be romance twisted in. Through all of this action, Rose will start thinking about what love is, and Nico will start thinking about who he is. Best part? Some chapters will be from Nico's perspective, so we'll get to see what he's thinking! YAY! Not only will there be lots of action, but each chapter will have a point, and there is a clear plot-win this war. Take out Zeus and Calyda. Restore the world. Of course, there will be a ton of twists and turns, lots of almost-deaths (and deaths.) So, if you like action AND romance, you'll like this._

_ So, I don't want you to give up on my story. So, I wanted to tell you what to expect. Like it? Tell me. Dislike it? Tell me PLEASE!_

_ Reviews are the most important thing to me right now, because I'm making a big change in my story. I'm also trying to figure out a big, shocking twist that will come!_

_ I decided to post this today, because I'm going to be gone like all day tomorrow (I'm getting my permit tomorrow, YAY.) _

_ Enjoy! _

START

My body trembled and I couldn't wake up_._

_ A voice was screaming, "Lies! Lies! Lies!" I heard the screams of a young girl, and there were flashes of a dark room.__  
><em>_ "Your life is a lie," a voice hissed in my ear.__  
><em>_ "No, no..." I was the screaming girl, I realized. I was in a dark room. "They wouldn't lie to me, they love me."__  
><em>_ "No one loves you," I could feel the warm breath of evil on my neck. "Not your mother or your father, or even me. No one will ever love you. You are just a heartless weapon," Tears were streaming down my face as I stood in the moldy, cold room. I turned to face my uncle, and I grabbed his neck. I squeezed tight, but the god just threw me across the room and I hit the wall with a thud. I grimaced but rose to my feet. I threw a punch, but he was strong. He smacked me away. Something surged in my body, and I felt my eyes beginning to glow. I pushed against his body, and angrily punched his face. He stumbled to the ground, and I whipped out my dagger.__  
><em>_ "You will always be fighting alone," the god hissed, "Good does not exist. Evil dominates."__  
><em>_I looked at my dagger and looked at the bloody face of Hades. I saw a reflection of myself. I was no older than 13. I was young, bleeding and confused.__  
><em>  
>I faded gently out of sleep. I didn't even have to think to understand. The dream had been a memory that I had forgotten. The thing that made me shake was Hades, and the things he had told me. I had questions, and I needed answers. I opened my eyes and found myself in a room painted black. There was almost no light, and the walls were decorated with black. Nico's room, I figured.<p>

I stumbled out of bed and slowly made it to the door. I was so confused, that I felt dizzy. Before I had blacked out, I thought Hades was on the good side. Now, I didn't know. And now, I didn't know what side Nico was on.

I pulled the door open and wandered down the hall of a pleasantly big house. I found the living room where Nico sat, watching CSI. He looked up at me. 

"I need answers," I whispered, "I want to know about my past, the necklace...and you. Tell me who you are." 

Nico's eyes were pure black right now, and I couldn't see any emotion. He patted the seat next to me. "Close your eyes and I will show you."  
>I hesitated but I slowly sat down, and Nico placed a hand on my forehead. His hand was warm and sent tingles down my spine. I opened my eyes to look into his eyes, but I quickly closed them.<p>

I felt myself fading, and memories, facts and dates went through my mind. Everything was a jumble, but slowly the images began to make sense.  
><em> I was standing on Mount Olympus, where Zeus, Calyda and a little girl were eating. No one could see me.<em>_  
><em>_ "We have to protect her," Calyda whispered to Zeus.__  
><em>

_ "The lotus casino," he suggested.__  
><em>

_ "No, I have something better in mind," she replied, and she took off her necklace. "I've made an alliance with Hades. He is going to hide her in the underworld. No one will be able to corrupt her. The only way to get her out will be this-" she held up her necklace.__  
><em>

_ The image changed, and the young girl was older now-probably ten. She was in Hades palace, and she was eating a small meal with him. She was quiet, and her eyes screamed gentle. During the past years, she had been trained to be kind and quiet.__  
><em>

_ "How is your food?" Hades asked.__  
><em>

_ "Good thank you," she replied politely.__  
><em>_That's when a young boy walked in. He had olive skin and shaggy hair. Nico. This must have been after Bianca died and he had run from Camp half blood.__  
><em>

_ "Nico, get out," Hades commanded. Nico opened his mouth to protest, but he thought better of it. He quickly left the room.__  
><em>  
>The image faded and I was now somewhere else.<br>_Hades was standing in his chamber, a piece of jewelry in his hand. It was the necklace. His eyes were studying the beauty. It was the sign to set the girl free from the underworld. Hades had orders to wipe her memory and set her free into the world, so Zeus could train her. That had been the plan. The girl was now old enough to be trained.__  
><em>_ Hades eyes were angry and he turned to the girl in the corner. She had been locked in this room for almost 3 years, after she had almost killed Hades.__  
><em>_ "I'm sorry, but you will never be set free. I need you for my own purposes," he whispered into her ear. The girl snarled and tried to fight. Her wrist hit the necklace, and at that instant, she was transported into an ally way, with no memory of anything.__  
><em>  
>The images faded, and all I could think of was myself. This girl was me. This was my past.<br>I opened my eyes and pushed myself away from Nico. I felt tears burning my eyes, but I didn't let them fall. "I don't understand. Tell me." those images didn't make sense. 

"Rose, your parents couldn't train you until you were older, so they sent you to Hades so he could keep you safe. He taught you to be obedient, and to never argue. When you were thirteen, you finally burst and almost killed my father. He realized your true potential and used you for himself. Your parents didn't know of Hades betrayal, and they sent the locket. The locket was the only way for you to get out. It was your escape. Hades didn't want you to have it, but somehow you touched it and you escaped. The necklace was somehow transported to Camp half blood," Nico explained slowly. The visions I had seen made sense. "Your memory was wiped and you were sent to that ally where Annabeth, Percy and I found you."

"You knew all along," I hissed, "you met me in the underworld after your sister died! You knew I was a goddess, and you knew that I was a weapon! You knew that this necklace is how I'm able to escape death! You knew...everything!" I wanted to sob, but I couldn't show weakness. "You work with Hades, don't you? When I almost killed Hades, he told me there was no good side, and now i know he's right!" I thought Nico had been on my side. Everyone was betraying me, even my own father and companion.

I felt my pants for my knife. I found it and whipped it out. "I'll kill you like I should've killed Hades!" I cried, pouncing on him. Nico pushed me off like I weighed nothing. He positioned himself on top of me so I couldn't fight.

"Calyda is going to control every single demigods mind, and make them kill themselves. It'll be fun for her. She doesn't plan on just restarting humanity, she plans on controlling it. Working with Hades doesn't sound so bad, does it? With Hades, there isn't mind control and I'm not affected by Calyda." 

I was confused again. I was confused about this battle that we were preparing for. Was this a fight between Calyda and Hades, or Calyda against the world? 

It was as if Nico read my mind, "This is a war where everyone is against everyone. Hades against all of the gods, Hades against mortals. Calyda against gods and Hades. Gods against Calyda and Hades. Demigods against everyone! That's the plan, Rose! Self destruction!" 

There was no good side, and no matter what happened, something bad would happen. 

I caught my breath and tried to break free of Nico's grip. "Why didn't you tell me from the beginning? Why didn't you say this was an lose-lose situation? Why...?" tears dripped down my cheeks, no matter how I tried to stay strong. "I don't want to fight...I don't want to be a weapon...I just want to be a normal girl..." I moaned these words. I looked into Nico's eyes, and I swelled with emotions. Hate, anger, confusion, betrayal and something else. 

"I didn't want you to know that there is no point for fighting. I wanted you to stay naive," he whispered, "look at you. When you came to camp, you were a carefree girl. Now, look at you." look at me. I was a mess. I had just pulled a knife on a boy who was my companion. I had turned into an angry killer.

Nico got off of me, and I sat up. "There has to be hope. There has to be a way to win. We just have to take it one step at a time."

I slipped my weapon away, and wiped my bloody nose. "Oh my god, where is Michael?" Nico didn't even have to say anything. He was dead. "How?" 

"When our ship exploded over a volcano, his injuries were bad. I couldn't save him," his words were bitter. I regretted not being there.

"His death wasn't your fault," I reassured him. It was my fault, I knew that. "We can still finish our quest. That's step one, so we don't die."

Nico's eyes silently said 'we will die later' but he said nothing.

"Do you know what the quest will fulfill?" I wondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he answered. I didn't trust him now. I didn't believe him.

"Michael and I did most of it, but it's up to you to complete it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. I took the paper and read the sentence. "Every lock has a key. Find it." I folded the paper up. I remembered it now. The secret was in the locket, and the locket could only be opened by it's creator. "Nico, who created this locket?"  
>Nico didn't answer. He averted his eyes to the TV screen.<p>

"Nico, who is the maker of this locket?" I persisted. He still didn't open his mouth. "Tell me," I seethed. Ah, this stupid anger problem. I had never had an anger problem before. Oh wait, scratch that. I'd always had an anger issue but I just didn't remember it. 

Finally, Nico answered. "Hades is the only one who can open the locket." 


	24. Sometimes you just have to do it

_Hey guys! Sorry for not updating! I took a pretty bad fall off a horse a few days ago, so I couldn't type! I'm better now! __**So, while I was recovering, I decided to experiment with this. This chapter is 1 of 2 ideas. Tell me what you think of this, and if you don't like it, I'll try option B.**__ I honestly just want to know what you guys think of this part! So, reviews! I'll try to update soon-I'm really busy at horse camp! Anyway, enough chit chat! I know this chapter is rushed, but I have a reason(: _

STORY START

"No, Nico," I said in agony. This was the worst idea ever. He was one of my worst enemies. He had used me, hurt me and betrayed my parents. He was no better than Calyda. 

"If you don't, we will both die in two weeks," Nico persuaded me. 

"He won't unlock it for me, but maybe he will for you! You are his son!" I said. "You work for him." 

Nico shook his head, "I also help you. He isn't exactly happy about that." 

"How could he possibly not kill you for helping me?" I asked. Nico didn't answer and I knew there was much more to this. I knew there was no choice though. I would have to face the one who kept me hostage in a single room for 3 years. 

"To be safe, pretend you still think he's the good guy," Nico added, "I wasn't supposed to ever show you." I made an angry face, and tried to control my emotions.

"Where is he?" I asked. 

"At the front door," he answered. Just then, the doorbell rang. In walked Hades as if he owned the place. Well, he probably did. 

"Ah, Rose! I'm glad to see you're alive and well," he said gruffly. I made a fake smile and greeted him. 

"Could you possibly open this locket?" I asked after a little bit of small talk. I showed him the locket. 

"Why do you need that locket opened?" he asked, in a fake ignorant voice. 

"For our quest. If we don't..." this was too easy. We had two days until we died, and I expected for it to take 2 days just to find Hades. As a goddess, things never came this easy. There had to be a price. Nico waited for me to finish. 

That's when I did the stupidest thing ever. 

"Cut the shit, Hades," I hissed, "I know everything now." 

"Everything, huh?" Hades laughed. That's when I remembered that Nico said a gods flaw was thinking we knew everything. 

"Not everything, but I know something," I hissed. I put my hand on my dagger. Nico was blankly looking at me. "Touch this, or I will kill you." 

"You are about to make a mistake," Hades replied. 

"I can kill you and finish my quest in 30 seconds," I hissed in his ear, "Wanna see?" 

Hades grabbed my ankle and I went for his throat. I toppled to the ground, and Hades went down with me. Nico rolled his eyes but didn't move. I gave Hades a bloody nose, and my lip was swelling. Hades squeezed my neck and I choked. I pulled out my necklace and smashed it against his nose, hoping that was enough. It was. The locket began to open, and light shone out. A train of cuss words left Hades mouth. I scrambled away from Hades, and into Nico's arms. I turned to him and shoved him. "Why did you just watch us?" 

"Now is not the time," he replied logically. He took the necklace out of my hand. It was glowing green. He glanced at his father. Hades was standing up now, and he had the look of murder. "Let's run now." 

We ran out of the house, and down the road and onto the beach. We ran miles before we collapsed and breathed heavily. Nico handed me the necklace. It was glowing even brighter. I took a deep breath and glanced at Nico before I opened the locket. Inside was...power. Power beyond belief. More powerful than all of the gods put together, and more powerful than the universe. Nico covered his eyes from the light. With this locket open, I was invincible. With this locket, I could destroy evil. I shut the locket and looked at Nico in shock. 

"The secret to ending this disaster is this locket. I open this locket, the power goes in me, and I destroy evil! It's the answer to everything!" I was ecstatic. I didn't understand how it worked, but I just knew it worked. 

"It's not that simple-" Nico interrupted. 

I didn't listen to him, "I can use this to kill Hades!" 

"Hades is my father!" Nico answered. 

"He is also part of this war!" 

"I won't let you kill my dad!" 

"You can kill my dad anytime!" 

"So?"

I was angry, and I just wanted to hurt him. It was so hard to work with him. I huffed, "What's the plan?"  
>Nico was almost too tired to speak. "Let's think it through." I could tell he needed sleep. <p>

"You sleep," I insisted, "I'll stay up and watch out." Nico tried to argue, but he was soon asleep.  
>I watched him sleep. I was left alone to my own thoughts. I didn't like it. I thought about Nico not telling me about my past, I thought about how this was a battle against everyone and I thought about all the power in my necklace. It had been such a long time since I had just sat down and thought about my life. It seemed like years ago when I had arrived to Camp Half Blood, but it was only 9 months ago. I had been a carefree girl, but over the past 9 months, I had turned into a cold blooded killer. I had an anger issue, and I hurt anyone who stood in my way.<p>

I tried to remember my life before I appeared in the ally way, but I couldn't. I couldn't remember anything. I wondered if I had always been like this. 

Nico woke up when the moon was in the middle of the sky. 

"You could have slept longer," I said. 

"You need sleep," he replied. He sat up, and I laid down my head. I was more exhausted than I thought. 

"Hey, Nico. Think we could go back to Camp Half Blood and get some help?" I asked. 

"Did a goddess just say she wanted help?" Nico asked. 

"Yes," I admitted. "I think I've realized that I need lots of help."

"That's an understatement," Nico said as I fell asleep. I smiled.

I woke when the sun was in the middle of the sky. "Nico! Why did you let me sleep so long?" 

"You needed energy. Besides, I needed time to think," he said. I scooted over to him. 

"What did you think about?" 

"I think that maybe your right. We have to do whatever we can to end the war, even if it means killing my dad. There has to be a good side and I want to be on your side," he sounded so confident. We stood up and brushed off the sand, and headed towards camp half blood. 

"By the way," Nico surprisingly spoke up, "you aren't just a weapon. You are a person, with a soul, and you have a heart." it was the best thing I had heard in months. 

"I'm a killer," I defended.

"You were raised as a killer, but you have a choice," Nico insisted. A choice. It was true, I had a choice to break free. "Let's get going." So, we plunged into the forest.

We stayed silent, until I screamed. Nico and I both fell into a hole that was about thirty feet deep. It was a long way to fall. We landed with a thud, and we didn't move for a second. I struggled to my feet, but my ankle was broken. Nico's arm was broken in 4 different places. We looked up to see Hades grinning. I cursed. He disappeared. 

There was a puddle of water on our feet. Light casted a rainbow.

Nico cursed, "We were so careless. We made a mistake." He was beating himself up. I wanted to comfort him, but I kept to myself. I wanted to kick myself because I had changed so much. I looked around and an idea struck me. 

"Nico, do you have a drachma?" I asked, full of hope. Nico searched his pockets and handed me a drachma. 

"Making an iris call to camp half blood? That's smart! I would have never thought of that," Nico confessed.

"You would have never thought about asking help," I said as I tossed the drachma down. 

"Seems like we both make the same mistakes," Nico mused. 

I made my offer to the goddess and called out camp half blood. Fortunately, Chiron was there. 

"We need help," I pleaded. 

"I'm sorry, Rose, but our camp is in ruins right now. Calyda attacked last night. We lost," Chiron's eyes were sad and broken. I covered my mouth. "It's up to you, Rose. No one can end this but you."  
>The iris message ended. I looked up but Hades was not there. He was probably preparing to kill us. <p>

I fought the tears. This wasn't fair. This war was bigger than me, so why did I have to end it? Nico put his hands on my shoulders in a comforting way. I was surprised by this physical contact. But, we were changing and needed each other more than ever. 

A rope dropped. 

Somehow Nico was able to climb up the rope. I was always underestimating his strength. I took my dagger out and went up the rope. Hades stood before me. I didn't pause before I tried to stab him. He was ready. He flipped me to the ground. 

"You are going to die," I hissed, "I'm going to end this war." 

Hades scoffed but he spoke too soon. I shoved him down the hole, and I fell down with him. He landed, and I brushed away the blood on his face. 

"You may have raised an obedient girl, but you also raised a girl who can think for herself. I am a killer, but I know what I'm doing is right," I hissed. Hades tried to fight back, and I would have lost. But I opened my necklace and light shown out. I flipped Hades over and drove a knife through his back. I had the strength to do this because of the power of the necklace. Hades did not take another breath.

I was a cold blooded killer.

I climbed up the rope and found Nico sitting there. He didn't speak or look at me. It had to be done. We both knew it. I sat down and didn't say anything. I played with my necklace. It was time to kill Zeus. I looked at Nico, and wondered what he was thinking.

"Can we go get pizza?" I asked. It was a silly thing to say, but the question made me feel more like myself. Maybe the carefree, happy girl was still inside of me. Nico broke the silence.

"Who is to take care of the underworld now? I have to go down and keep the underworld from chaos," he answered. "Call me up when you are going to face Calyda. You don't need me for Zeus."

"Don't go," I whispered, "I need you, I really do."  
>Nico shook his head.<p>

"Before you go, tell me who you are," I whispered.

"I'm Nico," he said and then walked away. For some reason, it explained everything. He was Nico. He was mysterious, focused and ambitious.

He was logical, and secretive.

He was loyal, faithful and a planner.

He didn't trust and he learned from experiences.

He knew things that other people would never know.

He was sacrificing and had a big heart.

He was there for me, and I liked it.

I liked him. A lot. 

The sooner I killed Zeus, the sooner I got to see Nico.

I just didn't know where to find Zeus.

**Tell me what you think, and if I should just totally rewrite this chapter! **


	25. Life isn't really a cup of tea anymore

_Sorry for the lack of updates! I actually want to keep the last chapter for a while. I didn't know that gods couldn't kill each other! I mean, Luke "killed" Kronos, and gods killed each other all the time in the myths! Anyway, I'll try to update more! I have a ton of Horse Performances coming up, so I'm uber busy! So, here's the new chapter! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINKKK!:D_

The only place I could think of that Zeus would be was Calyda's house. I had seen it a few times in my dreams. The only problem was that it was hours away. I didn't have money for an airplane or a bus, and there weren't any cars in sight.

I had nothing. I just had the clothes on my back. I began to walk in the right direction. It became dark, and it started pour. This wasn't warm rain, oh no, this was freezing rain. My body was trembling, and my teeth were chattering. I could barely see.

I was miserable.

Then, I squinted my eyes and saw a figure in the distance. I wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but I knew better. The figure didn't move, which made me weary. I touched my knife, and kept going.  
>As I got closer, I began to see the figures features. This wasn't a god. This was a short, skinny girl. She couldn't have been older than 14. She had red hair and bright green eyes and wore a camp half blood shirt. What threw me off were her yellow pupils, and I hesitated when I saw the knife in her hand.<p>

"Calyda has been waiting for you," the girl said, and even though she was petite, her voice was bold. I didn't say anything. Was this a monster in the form of a demigod? I stood my ground, waiting to see what would happen. I controlled my inner-murderer. My heart beat quickly, anxious for the kill. My own body was betraying my mind. my body had been trained to kill, yet that wasn't what I wanted.

Then, something freaky happened. Tears of blood trickled down her face. Blood oozed out of her nose and mouth. The rain washed the blood onto her clothes and matted in her hair. I pulled my knife out as the girl came closer, clenching her long sword.

She finally took a swipe and I ducked. I attempted a roundhouse kick but she easily avoided it. Her sword hit my knife square in the middle, just an inch away from my face. I struggled to keep the sword from breaking through my knife. I pushed and maneuvered, and finally the sword flew from her hands. This girl had no emotion as she fought. 

She grabbed my shoulders, and squeezed and did some whacky trick with her feet that sent me flying to the ground. She stood over me, but I kicked my legs up and pushed her away. She slipped on the wet ground, and fell to the ground. I took this opportunity to pounce on her.

The girl evilly smiled at me, as I held the knife above her throat.

"I'm sorry," I wasn't.

Just as I about slit her throat, she grabbed me with such strength and threw me off of her. I was shocked by this strength.

"I can't die yet," she hissed. Her yellow pupils grew larger, and she was still crying blood. She pulled out a wet peace of paper and handed it to me. The paper tore in my hands but I could read what it said.

Family dinner, tonight at 7.

It didn't take any thought to know who had sent this.

"My job is done," the girl whispered. She grabbed her sword, and before I could blink, sunk the blade into her own heart. Blood gushed from her wound. For a second, her pupils turned to black and her face stopped bleeding.

"I didn't want to," she whispered. She crumpled to the ground and I just stood there. I finally understood.

I had just experienced someone being controlled by Calyda. I sat down by the girl, and slid out the bloody sword.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, "it wasn't fair." It wasn't fair that Calyda had chosen her to control. It wasn't fair that Calyda saw demigods as trash. Calyda probably had fun watching this.

I didn't move from the dead body. To me, mind control was the scariest thought ever. This camper had to try to kill me and then kill herself against her own will.

I swore that I would kill Calyda, no matter what. I didn't care who got in the way, or pushed me down. I would kill Calyda with my own dagger. I would plunge it through her heart and forever end this.

Nico's P.O.V

People always assumed I liked being in the underworld. I mean, come on, it's dark, creepy and no one alive around. It should be heaven for me.

But it wasn't.

Being in charge of the underworld wasn't exactly a dream job. I had to hear ghosts sob stories, and tell a dead person he was going to hell. It wasn't exactly a sunny, happy job that included smiles and colorful flowers.

Down in the underworld, there isn't a such thing as time. Everything was free. There wasn't somewhere to be, or a dinner time. I kind of liked that.

I sat in front of my dinner plate, but I wasn't hungry. My father was dead, and Rose was probably going to get killed. Yet, I was here, alone.

"You know, I would have kissed Rose by now if I were you," a voice said from behind me. 

I rolled my eyes, "Michael, I'm not exactly kissing material." 

Michael appeared in front of me. I wasn't the type of guy to make friends with dead people, yet he was the exception. Since he died, he had insisted on haunting me. It was pretty creepy, if you ask me. 

"You should get out there and help her," he persisted. I shook my head. "You like her a lot, Nico. So chase her." 

"This isn't the time for feelings," I replied. 

"You still haven't told her who I really was, have you?" he questioned. 

"No," I answered. I didn't want to tell her. I didn't think she could handle the fact that another one of her companions was a traitor too.  
>"Aw, it's so cute how you protect Rose from the dirty truth," Michael said, in a sarcastic way. <p>

"How could I tell her that you knew Rose was a goddess all along? I couldn't tell her that you knew Zeus was a traitor," I sighed, "face it, Michael. You didn't have the heart to tell her either." 

"I want to make it up to her for not telling her," Michael stated thoughtfully. "Oh, I know. You go help her. She's having dinner with her parents tonight. Maybe you should crash the party."

I stood up, and walked away. Before I could take another step, a sword slid through my stomach. I fell to the ground and looked up into familiar eyes.


	26. the really pointless thing that happens

Things were _seriously _not going as planned. Not that anything was going as planned in the first place. I would give anything to be back at camp half-blood, safe and sound. Yet that wish was in vain.

Right now, it seemed so simple. I mean, it's normal for families to eat dinner together. Just not _my _family. If that's what you want to call it. _Family. _I shook from anger. This wasn't fair. Families were being destroyed, and I had to stop it.

I left the dead girl, guessing she would be found in the morning. I wonder if she had a family. I stood up, and continued down the road. The road led me into a forest. I heard a crack of a branch behind me. I froze and slowly turned to look. There was nothing in sight. I know, I know. It's a forest; there are animals that break branches all the time, blah, blah, blah. If you were a god, and you were in my situation, you would be paranoid too. Besides, the animal could be an evil, scary monster. I hadn't gone this far just to be attacked by a monster from behind.

I slowly continued forward, but I felt like I was being followed. I glanced to my side, and I thought I saw a pair of red eyes peeping through the bushes. I quickened my pace. I wanted Nico to be with me. Hell, I wanted almost anyone to be with me.

It was an odd feeling for me-needing someone. While I was with Zeus, he had told me that I didn't need anyone's help. I had started to believe it. I looked up at the sky, praying to the gods that they were protecting me. They probably didn't care. If I was dead, then they would be removing an obstacle.

I still hadn't totally figured out the mystery of the locket. For some reason, it felt important to me.

My thoughts were broken when I heard an unmistakable grown from behind me. _Not another monster, _because really, a demigods life was as clichéd as I expected. Monsters everywhere, everyone killing each other, cool tricks, dead people, it was all part of being a demigod. Yet, I wasn't a demigod; therefore it made it even more cliché.

I turned, but I couldn't see anything. I held my sword close to me, as I continued. The forest never opened up like I expected.

Finally, something really did attack me. It just wasn't what I expected. Not only that, it sure as hell didn't happen the way I expected.


	27. I find myself

_Hey guys-I've really lost lots of views lately, so until I get more views and reviews, I won't be posting anymore. Oh, and Transformers 3 reminded me of the Daleks from Doctor who, with the whole bridge to their galaxy and everything. Random fact, yeah…_

_ Anyway, here you go3 This is just a for fun chapter(: _

I bet you saw it coming, but I sure didn't. The person landed on top of me, and it took me a second to realize it wasn't a monster. Then, I saw that the person was well…hugging me. I was so shocked; I took a step back and stared into the eyes of Michael.

The Michael who was supposed to be dead.

Heck, Michael who WAS dead.

Yet, Michael was very much alive. I touched his arm to make sure he wasn't a ghost. He was flesh and blood. His heart was pumping.

"I thought you died," I stammered, my voice barely above a whisper. Yes, the life of a goddess can be very surprising, but dead people don't just show up.

"I did," Michael replied, a big grin painted on his face.

"How…?" I wasn't able to finish my question.

"The only way out of the underworld is a life for a life," he stated simply.

"Who?" Who did he kill? I looked into the bright eyes of Michael. He hadn't changed at all. His eyes were bright, and he was practically laughing. I realized how much I missed his good sense of humor. I had forgotten there was a time when I was just like him.

Michael didn't answer, "Smile, Rose. How about we go get some pizza?"

"How can you even think of pizza right now? You are crazy! I have to finish this-" I was ranting.

"Lighten up, sweetie. We aren't far from a main road, where there is Pizza Hut," he licked his lips and rubbed his tummy, "I'm hungry! I haven't eaten in…well, since I died."

It was just too…weird.

"Oh my gosh, Michael, you are alive!" I finally realized. I was a little late on the reaction, but reality had just hit me. I hugged him so tight, "I've missed you."

Michael told me his best jokes as we wandered off trail to the nearest road, and found the shining pizza sign. I laughed for the first time.

We ordered our pizza and sat down. I nibbled on the cheese stick and finally asked the haunting question, "Why are you here?"

"To get you back," he stated. He had been ready for this question.

"Back to…?" I asked, not sure what he meant.

"Back to yourself. You have to find yourself before you can finish this. You are _so _lost right now," he was being dead serious. Whoops, forget the dead part…"You aren't yourself anymore, and you can't do this without being _you."_

"This is me," I denied.

"No, this isn't. You need to remember the good times, and the bad times and find the you that kept you alive," Michael stated, and then paused for a second, "That made no sense."

"This isn't the time," I said, "I have to finish this…tonight." I started to panic, "What time is it? I have to be at my mother's house! I have to-"

Michael put his hand on my shoulder, "Chill, Rose. You can't do this with a fuzzy mind. I'm here to give you a day of fun before you do anything else."

"That's not important right now-" I hissed.

Michael just grinned, "It's part of the secret, Rose."

"What secret?"

He didn't answer, "This whole thing is about the secret. The locket, the powers, the gods, all of it is part of a secret." I stared at him. There was so much I didn't know. I thought I had known it all until now. "When this is all over, you will know the secret," he added.

I thought all I needed to do was use this locket to kill my parents, and then the war would be over. Yet, there was really more.

"You _need _to do this…" Michael insisted. "For Nico."

Darn it, I hated those words. It seemed like Michael knew that I would do almost anything for Nico and his safety.

"Fine, what's first? A manicure and pedicure? Am I getting my hair done? Or are we doing yoga?" I asked.

Michael gleamed with pleasure. "You still have that smartass humor." Being around Michael did that to me. "I was thinking more of like a day at the amusement park, or something a bit more exciting. Although, I really did want pink nails." I wondered how he could be so happy. He had died, been through a lot and yet he was still him.

"Let's do it," I stated, standing up.

So we did it. We went to the fair, where I won a big teddy bear and ate cotton candy. I laughed at Michael's jokes, and rode the Ferris wheel. I felt…normal. I felt happy. I felt…real. And suddenly, my head was cleared.

Anger exited my body, and was replaced by reasonable joy. My mind wasn't on killing my parents-it was saving the world. It was a different view of what had to be done. I wasn't fuzzy with hatred anymore. Everything was…okay. I found a legitimate reason to save the human race. People-full blood mortals-found happiness in everything. I could save them from a fight that wasn't theirs.

Yet, I didn't think about who Michael had killed so he could live. I didn't think about when my parents would strike this earth.

That day was a good day.

Of course, it had to end sometime.


	28. I have a plan

**2 months since the last chapter. WOW. Well, I am here, to finish the story off! There aren't too many chapters left, so tell me what you guys think of this chapter! No reviews=no chapters for a while! **

"Michael?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"What did it feel like to be dead?"

We were at a park, sitting on a cold bench, watching the sunset. The lake reflected the orange son, and bright colors surrounded us.

"It was boring," he replied, but I could tell he was lying. His voice had dropped two notches, and he began to fidget. "Nobody talks in the underworld, and I didn't eat. I didn't even sleep. It was like being a vampire to the extreme."

I smiled but now that the fun was over, I knew I had to find out who he had killed to come back alive. I wasn't going to like the answer. I looked into Michael's eyes, and tried to figure him out. His smile was deceiving. His bright eyes were misleading. I closed my eyes and touched Michael's wrist. As a goddess, I could look into anyone's mind. It just took concentration.

Michael realized what I was doing. Yet, it was too late. I was already seeing what he was seeing. Then, I squeezed my eyes shut, and forced him to open up his mind. I looked back to when he was trying to find me. Then, I found the memory.

He was in the underworld, eating a warm piece of pizza. He was sitting at an ancient black table, surrounded by yummy food. God, out of everything to eat, he chose pizza? I wanted to smile at his oddness, but then I realized how tense the room was.

Michael slipped a steak knife into his back pocket, and I knew he was out to kill someone. Yet, he couldn't kill someone who was dead. I was confused for a second, until Nico walked in. They exchanged a few words, and then Nico walked out.

Michael followed him. He stayed out of sight, and scampered down the long dark hallway.

Then Michael grabbed Nico's shoulder and whirled him around. Michael's steak knife went straight into Nico's beating heart.

Time seem to stop. Nico's eyelids fluttered and he collapsed onto the ground, his heart slowing down.

"This is for Rose," Michael promised Nico, and then walked away. There was not any sign of regret on Michael's face.

Nico groaned, and his body went limp.

I opened my eyes, pulled away from Michael and fell onto the grass. Tears began to stream down my face. Nico couldn't be dead. He just…couldn't be dead. Nico was the only person who had never given up on me. Nico was the only person who understood me. Nico was the only one who knew how I felt.

Nico was dead.

"You…killed Nico?" I cried, tears silently falling down my face. "How _could _you?"

"Rose, you need to understand, there is a good reason," Michael said. "I couldn't stay in the underworld. I have important information for you, and I had to be alive and give it to you. Nico had to die. He knew he had to!" All the light had gone out of Michael's face. He looked stressed now. He was almost trembling, "Besides, Nico is home. He came from the underworld, he can be happy there."

"You don't know Nico at all, if you think that," I hissed. I didn't know why, but for some reason, I felt like I knew how much Nico hated that place. Nico hated going to the underworld. Yet, he went there anyway, because he had to. He was stuck down there, now. Dead.

I was shaking. It wasn't because I was angry at Michael. I was shaking because I had just lost Nico.

"I can't save the world without Nico," I whispered, "I can't fight without him by my side." I glared at him, "Tell me what you're good reason is."

Michael took a deep breath, and talked really fast, just trying to get it out, "I know what Zeus and your mother's plans are. I know where they are going to attack, and it's soon. I have to tell you their battle plans. I have to help you."

I took several breaths, and smiled weakly. At least Michael was on my side. See, there was my positive side. I had to think clearly. I had to push my pain away, and save the world.

"When, where and why?"

"Mount Everest," Michael said, "In 6 days. Calysta and Zeus are going to start there, and send out their army. No one will ever be able to kill them if they are on the peak of Mount Everest."

"Why?"

"The peak of Mount Everest is a safety place for gods. They can't be hurt there. They are invincible if they get there. The only thing is that they have to get their by land. They can't shadow travel there, or anything. They have to start at the base of Mount Everest and climb up. So, that's when they are weakest, until they reach the top of Mount Everest. They plan on getting to Mount Everest in 2 days. They will start climbing then. That's when you have to attack- Before they get to the top of Mount Everest."

It was a lot to process. They would get to Mount Everest in 2 days, and climb to the top. Once there, they were invincible. Two days.

"Two days to get Nico back. Then we can climb up and greet them before they reach the top. Then we will send them to the depths of Tartarus," I decided.

"That's cutting it close…" Michael trailed off.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," I smiled, "I just need Nico. Alive."

I had a plan.


	29. I almost tell Nico how I feel

**OMG, so I just read the first chapter of the Son of Neptune, and can I just say...I am SOOO excited for it to be released! October 4****th****, kiddos! Anyway, here you go! Another chapter, and soon this story will be over! Reviews will be appreciated! If you are a Harry Potter fan, please do read my other stories, and review them too3**

"That's the worst plan ever, Rose!" Michael cried, looking at me like I was crazy.

"More like the best plan ever," I replied, "I was up all night, planning this out."

"How about you actually sleep, and think this through?" he asked, shaking my shoulders. I shook my head.

"This will work," I answered, crossing my arms and stepping away from him. "We should go."

Michael stopped me, "You can't kill a squirrel and bring back Nico. A squirrel doesn't count as a life."

"Sure it does," I replied. "Or we just…" Okay, if killing a squirrel wouldn't work, I didn't know what would. We were at the library, and I had been researching the underworld for so long, I began randomly spurting out random facts about the underworld. "Gods, why did I send Hades to Tartarus? I could really use him right now!"

Michael was reading a book, and he finally slammed it shut. "I got it. Right now, we don't need Nico alive. We just need him up here. We can get his ghost up here, and just save him after the war!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" I wondered. "Let's summon him!" We walked into the forest, where we summoned his ghost. It took a few minutes for Nico to show up. "How do we make you become real up here, without actually bringing you back to life?" I asked.

Nico gave me a confused look, so Michael explained what was going on. Nico just snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he was right in front of us.

I threw my arms around him, trying to ignore the fact that his heart wasn't beating. I'd gone too long without him. I took in his smell, his sounds, and his features. I never wanted to let go.

"We have to hurry to Mount Everest, and get an army set up," I said, finally pulling away. There was a war to win. "Nico, could you get everyone in the underworld to come up? Grover is going to bring the satyrs, but Camp Half Blood is having troubles of their own. Your army is the only hope we have."

Nico nodded, "I'll be back. I'll meet you at base camp of Mount Everest." Nico disappeared, and I felt empty again.

Michael and I took the bus to Mount Everest, which took over a day. We stared at the gigantic mountain. It would take months for anyone to summit it! Although, we aren't exactly human…We are gods. Who knew what else we could do.

"Let's start up," I said, strapping a backpack onto my back. Once I stepped foot on the mountain, I would lose all of my power.

Nico joined us, telling us that there was a ghost army ready to fight on the mountain. Right now, it was fortunate that Nico was really dead. If he was alive, the mountain would take away his power to summon dead people. Luckily for us, Nico was very dead, and the mountain couldn't take away his dead powers.

We started up, and it pained us by how slow we were travelling.

"Michael, how do you know about this?" It had suddenly occurred to me that I was trusting Michael. I guess it was because Michael had been on a quest with me, and I wanted to trust him.

"Some of Zeus' dead army was talking about it in the underworld," he explained.

"We can trust Michael," Nico said, his form was a little see-through. It was unnerving…Every time I thought about Nico being dead, it was painful. Sure, it was great that Nico could come up to us while being dead. Yet, he was just that. Dead.

When it became dark, we stopped to get a breather.

"Guys, this could be the end of the war," I said, thinking about it. "Once we reach the top of the mountain, everything will end. One way or another, this is almost over. We have to win, it's up to us. We are almost there." After months of travelling, pain and betrayal, we were here. I smiled at them, "You guys are the best."

We kept walking, not getting any sleep. We walked all day, and finally decided to sleep for a few hours before moving on. Michael fell asleep instantly, but Nico and I couldn't.

"I wonder what Zeus, my mother and the armies are doing right now. They have to stop at least a few times," I wondered out loud.

I sighed, "Nico, I don't think I'm ready for this to be over. I know it sounds so stupid. I've been training forever, and everything has been leading up to this, but I'm not ready. I'm not ready for the final battle. I'm not ready to send them away to the pits of Tartarus."

Nico reached out, and took my hand. It was cold. His whole body was cold. His heart wasn't beating. Blood did not move inside of him.

"Nico, when this is over, will you ever be able to come back, alive?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Technically, I'm King of the Dead now. I have to stay in the underworld now. Forever."

Tears slipped down my face, "I want you to stay up here, with me." _If my parents don't destroy me, that is. _

Nico squeezed my hand, "Everything will work out." That's when I looked into his eyes and realized just how much I loved him. I loved everything about him. I wanted him to be mine. I had to tell him now, because it would be the last chance.

"Nico, I-"

That's when I saw figures coming up the mountain.

Zeus.

My mother.

Their army.

This was the final battle.


	30. The Final Battle

**WOOHOO! Second to last chapter! If I get enough reviews for this chapter and the next, I will consider a sequel! So, if you want a sequel, please do review and tell me so! The readers that told me that they wanted a sequel, that's great! But I need more response from others too! Anyway, enjoy this chapter and review!**

Nico reached out and grabbed my hand. He gave me a comforting squeeze, then we released. That would be the last time I would ever get to touch Nico. I raced over to Michael and shook him awake. He woke up, and looked at the approaching enemy. He jumped up and grabbed his sword.

This was great.

We had no armor.

We almost had no weapons.

We had no powers.

I wasn't ready.

Yet, it was time.

Nico summoned his dead warriors, and I realized we were evenly matched. I was evenly matched with Calyda and Zeus considering my fighting skills. Nights of hard training with Nico had prepared me for that.

"Stand our ground, don't let them push us up the mountain," Nico stated. Michael and I nodded, and had our weapons ready. There were dozens of them. That included Calyda, Zeus and a few other gods that had sided with them. There were demigods, who had followed in their godly parents footsteps.

"Hold your ground," Nico whispered.

The army was 20 feet away.

16 feet away. A few shot arrows.

"Michael, when they attack, get rid of the ones with arrows," Nico was good at this. He was good at leading us into battle. Michael nodded. Nico looked at me, "Rose, chop your parents in half and make it so they will never be able to return."

I gulped and nodded. I looked at Zeus and his cold blue eyes. I looked at my mother and her yellow eyes. They were the ones who had birthed me. These were also the ones who had trained me to be a weapon. They had used me.

They had to die.

2 feet away.

Then the armies collided.

I can't tell you what the battle was like. The rush of nervousness, excitement, dread and doubt that filled me was indescribable. I can tell you what people did, but I can't even begin to explain how we felt.

I swooped around a large god, and was hit in the back by a Cyclops. Yes, they had a few Cyclops on their side. _Super,_ right? Wrong, I whirled around and hit the Cyclops below the knee. My sword didn't chop of its leg, but it deeply wounded the Cyclops. It bellowed with pain, and tried to hit my head. I jumped over a swing, and then slammed my sword into the Cyclops heart. The Cyclops didn't bellow. It just fell over.

I went on.

I looked over and saw Nico's dead army fighting, destroying and getting destroyed. Then I turned and looked at a familiar face.

It was a camper that had been friendly to me at Camp Half-Blood.

I almost couldn't do it. I was killing others of my god. We all had godly heritage. It was like killing my half sibling that I didn't know.

I really almost dropped my sword and walked away.

Almost.

So, I kept on going. I took a swipe, and cut the demigods stomach.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as the demigod fell onto the ground, dead. I spotted Zeus and Calyda, and they were easily fighting off the dead army. Nico, Michael and I were defeating the army, but it seemed like their numbers were not dwindling down. Zeus had a bigger army than I expected.

I made sure that no one got passed us and headed up the mountain. I definitely didn't let Zeus nor Calyda out of my sight.

Hours passed, and I was growing tired. We had almost won. Just a dozen more demigods and gods existed. Some gods and demigods had run down the mountain, and away from the fight. They decided that Zeus and Calyda weren't worth dying for.

"Michael and I are going to lead Zeus away," Nico whispered and then took off. What? They were leaving me alone with Calyda.

I turned away from him and was face to face with my mother. She was breathtakingly stunning, and her yellow eyes pierced mine.

After everything I had done, it was all for this.

For this moment.

My mother and I fought with our swords, but we were too equally matched. We had the same skill level. I couldn't win this way.

I needed power.

So, I took a risk.

With Hades chopped up, I could open the locket. The locket that had so much power. I could only hope that the power would work on this mountain.

So, I clicked open my locket and waited for the events to unfold.


	31. The End

**The last, last chapter. To be honest, this is my second story I had EVER WRITTEN that I have actually finished. Usually I get 10 chapters into it and quit. This is the 31****st**** chapter. The longest story I have ever written. So, this ends with the opportunity for a sequel. READ, REVIEW and tell me what you think. If I get enough reviews asking for a sequel, I will come up with something! So, DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! Please, read and enjoy!**

There was a burst of blue lightning. It sprung from the locket and sprung into a circle around my mother and I. It was pure power, and it could take over all of us. This power was…mine. This power had been given to me, and I had been raised for this moment.

I glared at my mother, feeling the electricity bolting inside of me, filling up my lungs. "You are selfish."

She wasn't going to give up so easily. Even though I had power, and she did not, she was still ready to fight. Fight with her words. "Imagine having this power, and ruling the whole world with it. You, me and your father! Perfect, wouldn't it be? No weaklings would exist. We would rule the universe."

"That's what you want, not me," I hissed, and breathed in. I could feel the electricity soak into my skin, and it was all mine. Yet, I wasn't ready for it. My body started to tremble, and my mind was shutting down. This was too much power for a single goddess. I shuddered, trying to keep control of myself.

"If you don't share the power with me, you will die. The power will die with you," my mother said with a smirk. I mean, what young 16-year-old girl would say no to having power and living? Except, I'm not just a sixteen year old girl, I am a sixteen year old goddess. The power was taking over me. Inside this necklace was centuries of gods powers. When a god faded, their power would go into this necklace. Somehow, I was stuck with it.

I didn't want to disappear. I didn't want to fade away, and became just another goddess that lost a war. I didn't want to vanish into nothingness. I was tempted. I was so, so tempted just to take off the necklace, and share the power with my mother. I would get to live. I would get to rule the world. I closed my eyes, trying to focus.

Nico immediately came into my mind. He had done so much for me, and him being dead was my fault. He had worked so hard to get me here. I wasn't going to let him down. Not again. Not now. Suddenly, I had motivation to end this. People were dead because of my mother. Many more people were about to die as well.

It was all her fault.

I had to end this.

Now.

I flashed my eyes open, and my yellows eyes glared into my mother's. She recognized my sudden anger, and knew that this was until death. There was no backing down. My mother and I circled each other, although she knew she was going to lose.

I just had to reach out my hand, and a burst of electricity would burst out. She would disappear. I growled at my mother and said, "Evil never wins. Evil is a dark feeling that is full of hate and fear. But there are so many things that can beat evil. Love, trust, loyalty and goodness. All of that can beat a single thing-evil. Evil with never win."

I reached out my hand, and a burst of blue electricity burst from my hand. It was provided from the locket. My mother had nothing to defend herself. Her body began to break. She screamed, clawed and cried, trying to fight. There was no fighting the power that was within me. Tears were dripping down her face. For my mother, nothing was worse than losing.

She tried to grasp her way back into life. Yet, she had no power to hang onto. She had no love to hang onto. She had nothing to find her way back. She was disappearing, and nothing would help her. In a blast, she was gone.

The locket clasped itself closed, and I fell to the ground. I immediately fell weak, and sweat dripped off of my forehead. I couldn't find the energy to climb back to my feet. I just hugged the ground, trying to stay conscious. I couldn't even smile. My mother was gone. Evil had been defeated. Well…Zeus. I remembered him, and immediately found the strength to get up.

Nico.

I had to find him and Zeus. I ran across the mountain, and couldn't find them. I started down the mountain, my legs feeling like spaghetti. I set my mind on getting to Nico and Michael. Once I reached the tree line, I saw Zeus roped to a tree. Nico and Michael stood beside him. Michael threw his arms around me. I hugged him tightly, and then he let go.

Nico gave me his mysterious smile, and pulled me into a hug. I realized that this was like, the first hug we had ever experienced. Nico and I had never been physical, or anything. It was a weird thing to think about. I told them what happened.

Zeus was growling, but he didn't have the strength to break out of the tightly bound ropes.

"Poseidon and several other gods are at the bottom of the mountain, waiting for us. Zeus will be put in jail," Michael said, a little awkwardly. I blushed when I realized Nico and I hadn't pulled apart yet. We pulled away, and we smiled at each other.

"It's over," I breathed, finally able to relax. "It's really over." I couldn't say that enough times. After months of pain, training, and complications, it was really over. Then I looked over Nico, "How do we get you back to life?"

"You won't," Nico replied, "I belong in the underworld now. I rule there. I keep the place organized and running. I won't leave there." My blood boiled. Tears fought their way to the surface.

"The prophecy is complete," Michael piped up, trying to lighten the mood. "'A _dagger to the heart, a knife to the neck.'_ A dagger to the heart would be Hades, and a knife to the neck would be any creature we have killed." He thought for a second, "_A chain to lead her, a boy to hold her back." _

I didn't hesitate before saying, "The locket led me, and Nico was the one who held me back to joining their side."

No one wanted to say the next line. "_Secrets will destroy one, and kill another and lead one to safety," _Nico smirked while he said this. "Destroy one…Rose, somehow, this destroyed you. This prophecy killed me, and obviously, Michael is safe." We both looked at Michael, and I tried not to resent him. It was his fault that Nico was dead. Yet, it was also because of him that we had won the war. He had told me the information on how to beat my mother.

I forced a smile, "Who cares about a prophecy, as long as we are toget-" I faltered, remembering that we weren't together. I looked at Nico.

"Time for me to be getting back to the Underworld," Nico mumbled.

I wanted to get on my knees, and beg for him to stay. Nico faded away.

Michael and I lugged Zeus to the bottom of the mountain, where the gods were waiting. They all congratulated me, but then they left. I said goodbye to Michael.

Then, I realized something.

I had nothing.

I had nothing to look forward to. I had nowhere to go.

What now?

All I really wanted was to be normal, and have Nico.

Yet, that was impossible.

The sun was setting as I walked through a small town, heading towards nowhere. I forced my feet to step in front of each other. I kept my eyes up.

My name is Rose, and I am a goddess. I hope you learned something from my story. Power isn't everything, and friends are important. People will betray you, but sometimes, some will stick with you until the end. Even those with the most power will be lonely.

Now, I start my search for belonging, and a way to get Nico back to my world.

**THE END. **


	32. Look into the sequel

**Here is a look into the sequel. It will be called Power of the Rose, and I should have the first chapter up later today! Here is a chapter that will be somewhere in the sequel, just to get you excited! Tell me what you think!**

I was dangling over the edge, and there was no way to crawl back up. The ground was hundreds of feet below me. I gritted my teeth together, trying to think this through. It was hard. Trust me, thinking while hanging off a cliff is very, very difficult. The black clouds were rolling together, blocking the sunlight.

_Drip._

_ Drip._

Rain. It sprinkled onto my head, and suddenly, everything was wet. My hand began to slip, and I lost my grasp. I couldn't hold on forever. I wanted to hate Nico for this. This was his entire fault! I wanted to go back in time, and make things different. Yet, in the back of my mind, I knew I wouldn't change anything.

Lightning lit up the black sky, and I knew it was time to let go.

For the first time in months, I wished I was a goddess again.

Instead, I was a mortal, and I was going to die.

I didn't let the tears fall as I let go, and a scream pierced the silent sky. It was my own scream.

Before I hit the ground, all I saw was Nico's face.


	33. Power of the Rose

The sequel to Secret of the Rose has been published!

It is called POWER OF THE ROSE! So, check it out!


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